Beauty of Annihilation
by onryoii
Summary: A sequel to sweet-and-simple's story "Loveless War" featuring Russia x Canada and some other minor pairings.  Ivan and Matthew are together but after the death of Feliciano, Ludwig has more sinister plans in mind.
1. Intro

C: Hello,

Onryo here! 3

This is going to be my first story on FF so far and it's going to be a sequel of simple-and-sweet's story "Loveless War".

Hope you enjoy! All credit for the idea for the sequel goes to simple-and-sweet and Hetalia in general goes to its creators, etc.


	2. Before the Storm

_"Ivan..."_

The man stretched out on he and his angel's bed with a low grunt at the soft voice breaking through the groggy barrier that had shrouded his mind. Something soft and smooth yet pleasantly warm pressed itself against his brow and they furrowed at once in reaction.

_"Sunflower."_

Violet eyes slid open at once upon hearing the secondary name of his that his sweet little angel had given him from the first day they had met. The fateful day that had brought them together and actually was one of the few things that was a blessing in his life. Squinting, he gave a displeased growl as a stream of sunlight that had filtered in through the small crack between the red curtains that covered Matthew's windows in his room. Heaving a heavy sigh, Ivan covered his eyes with a large hand, remaining still for a moment until he felt smaller, soft hands wrapping around his own and pulling it off his eyes. Glancing upwards, violet met that lovely shade of watery blue he'd loved looking at so very much.

"Dobroe utro, Angel..." He mused, sleepiness cracking in his voice some as he wrapped his fingers around the soft hand on his own, bringing it to his lips to press a soft kiss against the male's knuckles. The smile that lit up across Matthew's face practically melted him and the happiness he was feeling was certainly coming from the little male above him who was currently stroking his fingers through his hair. Hell, the action was starting to put him to sleep again.

"Mhm, b-bonjour, Sunflower." The blonde mused in response, leaning down to press another kiss against Ivan's forehead for a moment before sitting up to get out of bed. The white sheets of his bed sliding off of the blonde's legs and Ivan's gaze immediately trailed after Angel's figure as he moved from the bed. The black t-shirt Ivan had been wearing yesterday reaching down to barely cover the soft globes of flesh that made up that lovely ass of his. Smiling some, he was half tempted to get up and follow after him.

And so he did.

Sitting up, he pushed himself up off the bed while a predatory like stare was focused in on the blonde who was busy digging through his drawer to find some clothes for the day. Advancing silently on him, he ran his tongue out against his lips and let a hand reach out for his shoulder.

"Mattie!"

Both Matthew and Ivan jumped in surprise at the sudden shout. Whirling around, Ivan blinked, his gaze landing on the blonde standing in the doorway of their bedroom and Matthew too had turned around in a surprised state, clutching the shirt he'd pulled out of the dresser to his person while a flush of red spread over his cheeks upon being seen in such a manner by his brother. Alfred didn't seem to care at the moment and for obvious reasons considering the recent drama of his friends had been captured by Ludwig.

The stress was obvious on his older brother's face. The male looked paler than he normally did and tired; dark rings had formed under his eyes. Lord knew he hadn't slept in weeks and Matthew felt bad for not having been able to figure out a way to take care of this problem already. Pulling off the shirt he'd been wearing, he pulled on a black tank-top and a pair of jeans before he scrambled over to his closet to grab a red hoodie, "W-what is it, Alfred?" he ventured, concerned eyes looking over to his brother who had sank down to the floor against the wall at the entrance of his room.

Frowning at once, he shot Ivan a concerned and confused look. Seeing the Russian merely shrug and move away to change, Matthew went to join Alfred on the floor. He was more than shocked to see tears sliding down his brother's face, his bright blue eyes shining, having taken off his glasses to keep tears from staining the lenses.

"A-Alfred? What's-...what's wrong?"

Looking to his younger brother, the blonde attempted to say something but all that came out was a choked sob and he wordlessly handed over an opened envelope that held a letter and a few pictures from the looks of it. Taking it, Matthew looked to the pictures and paled instantly. They were pictures of the ones that Ludwig had captured. They were quite bruised up and cut but it was obvious the German had sent plenty of pictures of Arthur to Alfred to get to him. The bushy-browed blonde appeared to be unconscious and covered in blood. Presumably his own judging from the cuts that riddled his body.

Knife work of some kind was what it looked like to Matthew but Ivan would probably know better than he would on such matters.

Jumping as he felt a hand brush against his hair, Matthew looked up to Ivan and handed him the pictures before scanning over the letter. He remained quiet until Ivan knelt down in front of him, "Matvey, vat is it?"

Looking up to Ivan, he glanced to Alfred who had managed to compose himself somewhat and sighed, "L-ludwig. H-h-e w-wants us to meet him in three days."

Ivan frowned. Obviously his Angel was worried about the damage his brother's friends were receiving, not to mention how much damage they were going to get in all of this. Sighing, Ivan stood up, taking the letter from Matthew's hands to look over himself, "Ve're going to need help in doing dis..." He mused solemnly. There was no way in hell they were going to be able to take out Ludwig just the three of them. Alfred would probably be far too eager to jump into any fight that sprung up and while Matthew could fight he wasn't going to last long against someone like Ludwig.

Matthew nodded in agreement for a moment, his thoughts taking over for a moment before he peered back up to Ivan, "What about Lovino?" Lovino had been Feliciano's brother after all. Ivan frowned thougthfully before shaking his head, "Nyet. Lovino vas Feliciano's brother. He's sided vith Ludvig I'm sure to get back at everyone for getting his brother killed..." He mused before raising a brow, "But ve could get Antonio...Lila vould probably help as vell since her brother is one of de ones captured..."

Alfred spoke up, having gotten himself together and was on his feet at once, "We're going to need more than that, dudes. Let's get Francis in on this too! And...and Toris! He owes me big time anyways!"

Ivan grimaced some at the mention of his Baltics. He'd let them go after things had settled down some but he'd heard from Toris that the other two had been so mad at him from the past that they'd joined up with Ludwig to get some payback. Toris was the only one that had stayed away from Ludwig of the trio since he hadn't been able to stand the thought of attacking at Alfred. "Da. But dat should be enough for now. Ve'll have to figure out de rest later..."

Now they just had to figure out a plan of action.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Woo. First chapter. xD Sort of a failtrial run since I wasn't completely sure how to start this out.

Dobroe utro = good morning in Russian, by the way.

And Lila, just you guys aren't confused, is Lichtenstein. :/ She didn't have a HN so I made one up for her.


	3. Charting a Course

Why did he feel so nauseous?

A grimace slid across Ivan's face as he looked at the faces that had gathered at his angel's house for their little meeting of sorts. The more they sat here the more awkward and unsure he felt. Unwinding his leg from his other, he stretched one out just to have something to do.

Sadly, he had an idea of why he felt so out of place all of a sudden.

Casting a sidelong glance towards Matthew, he sighed a bit. The blonde was obviously uncomfortable in his present surroundings. The way he had his head bowed some to look at the ground in front of him and the way his arms were wrapped tightly around Kumajirou as if the bear was the only thing keeping him anchored down, preventing him from splitting from the room.

Matthew couldn't help it though, he never was really all that comfortable with being in meetings and he never really got noticed at them anyways. Catching a reassuring sort of feeling through the suffocating nervousness in his own mind, the Canadian blinked a bit, reaching out towards the sensation. Lifting his head, he turned his watery blue gaze towards violet eyes and smiled a bit.

_Oh, Ivan…_

The slight reassuring from the Russian eased his nerves a bit. After all, he was here as well as his brother.

Speaking of his brother…

The blonde was babbling away eagerly and passionately in the middle of the little circle they'd formed in his living room. He wasn't entirely too sure of what he was talking about and, from the looks of it, neither did the other nations. Ivan must've caught on to his confusion for he stood up a few moments later, striding over to the blonde and promptly smacked him upside the head, "Be quiet, da?" he voiced, "You're just confusing everyone."

Grumbling under his breath as he held his head where the Russian had hit him, Alfred shot the man a glare but returned back to his seat next to Matthew. Settling himself down, Alfred folded his arms over his chest with a snort, eyeing Matthew with slight displeasure, "Why do you like that commie bastard so much?"

Sighing a bit, Matthew smiled a bit, leaning his head on Kumajirou's, "W-well…I'd try to explain b-but you wouldn't really understand." Ivan wasn't as bad as everyone said he was, just misunderstood. He could be extremely sweet and all he wanted was someone to love him but the methods he went about trying to obtain said love were completely wrong so it gave him a bad reputation with the other nations it seemed.

Taking a breath, Ivan let it out in a sigh before letting his violet eyes slide over the faces that were watching him now; Antonio, Lila, Francis, Toris and Katsyusha.

They all look so tired.

"Now, you all are here for obvious reasons, ve need to get rid of Ludvig. "

"And how do you propose we do zat, _mon cheri? _" Francis mused, lips pursed as he studied the Russian, "In case you haven't noticed we are a little short on people."

Francis did raise a good point.

"Vell, ve vere thinking infiltration…"

"But, how are we going to do dat?" Lila spoke up, a worried look appearing in her green eyes, "Ludwig iz careful about who he lets in."

Antonio supplied the answer.

"I'll do it." He stated, a frown spreading over his lips, "Lovino joined up with him and he knows how I worry about him so it would make sense for me to be there."

Ivan thought it over for a moment. Francis and Katsyusha were out of the question, Toris would get ratted out on by Raivis and Eduard, Lila was too timid and technically she was neutral since Vash took care of her but he was captured at the moment so Antonio really was the only option.

"Very vell. You vill have to sneak in before de meeting and give us a layout of de place. Vhile dat's going on, Katsyusha, Toris, and Lila, you vill sneak in and try to find de others. Francis, you're going to try to find out some information on vat de hell Ludvig plans on doing, da?"

The group gave a nod.

Now things were being set into motion. Ivan just hoped they would turn out like they planned.

"An ambush."

Blinking at the monotone voice that had spoken up, Ivan peered over his shoulder to Kumajirou who was regarding him blankly.

A frown spread over Matthew's lips at that, "Y-yeah…th-they could have a whole ambush set up, I-Ivan." It was a possibility that they were all walking into a trap planning all of this and Ivan had to agree, judging from the wave of mild worry that seeped into Matthew's body from the other.

Ivan nodded some and glanced around the circle, noting the same worried look on everyone else's faces.

"Da, but vat other choice do ve have?"

* * *

><p>Green eyes stared blankly at the still form lying beneath the surface of clean glass.<p>

"Feliciano…" He mused softly under his breath, kneeling down next to coffin of glass to study his brother from the side. Surely he was just asleep in there? There was no bruising on him from where blood should've clotted or even a faint trace of a line where the stitches no doubt were on his throat.

Ludwig had certainly taken the upmost care, precision and time into cleaning up Feliciano.

Lovino had been heartbroken to hear of his brother's death and at first he'd been mad at Ludwig. Why the hell hadn't he tried harder to protect Feliciano? He hadn't even liked the potato bastard being around his little brother in the first place and this was what happened because he let them stay together despite not liking them together.

He'd even gone as far as to sneaking out when Antonio was asleep. The Spaniard had known that Lovino was taking it roughly and had spent his time comforting his little Italian shape shifter but Lovino was known for being drastic about things and he'd certainly beat his record on his last fit.

When he'd snuck out he'd taken a gun with him and proceeded to make his way to the German's house and quite literally kicked the damned door in. He'd found the German laying comfortably on his bed but that didn't last long when he'd seen the barrel of a gun pointed at his head.

Lovino didn't pull the trigger though. Obviously, since Ludwig was still alive.

No, Ludwig had changed his mind on who really deserved to have a gun pulled on them.

Their ex-Allies.

They were the ones who'd gotten Feliciano killed just because the fucking Russian suddenly had a thing for the American's little brother and decided to spare his life.

Feliciano was dead just because of that? They'd wasted so many resources and soldiers just to try to get the bastard cornered long enough to kill him then they let him go just because he found someone who loved him.

What a load of bullshit.

Standing up, he placed a hand on the glass surface, _"Riposa in pace, fratello minore."_ Turning, he headed down the stairs that led up to the coffin and off down the strip of red carpet that led from the large room to a narrow hallway, pausing as the tall form of the German materialized in the doorway.

The two remained silent, staring quietly at each other for a few moments as if they were talking before Lovino stepped aside to let Ludwig through, watching as the man gave a small nod to his deceased lover's brother before making his way into the room. Watching him for a few moments, Lovino soon headed off down the hallway himself.

Soon they'd get their revenge.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Chapter 2. Yaaay. Lol.<p>

Humm. Not much to say I guess. c: Got more inspiration for this one I think. =u= I did enjoy writing Lovino's part. 3 Yeah, I'm secretly kind of evil so things are gonna get intense. xD

Riposa in pace, fratello minore = Rest in peace, little brother.

I thought this one was easy enough to interpret but I'll put it up just in case: Mon cheri = my dear.


	4. And Into the Fire

Part of him was seriously starting to regret agreeing to do this.

Green eyes warily scanned the place over as he walked down the hall alongside Ludwig. The guy had seriously cracked it seemed, everything was so dark now and it seemed permanently cold and the air itself seemed to suck the happiness out of everything. It almost made him want to cry to think his sweet little Lovino was in such a place like this!

However, he couldn't blow his cover now in favor of scooping up the little Italian and booking it out of there as fast as he could. No, he had a mission to do and it was important they got it done.  
>And as quickly as possible at that, Ludwig seemed like he would simply start shooting people soon and Antonio did not want to be around when that happened.<p>

If things worked out though, everyone would escape this unscathed.

Or so he hoped.

"Und vhy exactly are you deciding to join me again?"

Snapping from his thoughts at the question, Antonio smiled cheerily, "Ah, _si_. Well, when Lovino vanished on me I got extremely worried about him so I figured the best way to make sure he's all right is by joining up with you."

"Hmph. Admirable, I vill admit, but don't expect that just because you're zere he vill stay alive." Ludwig had certainly found that out the hard way and his cold blue eyes directed themselves to the ground. "But, as long as you make yourself useful I don't care vat you do."

Spain nodded in agreement to his words, "_Si_, _Señor._"

He paused though his senses picking up something and he flashed a smile to Ludwig, "Ah, if you don't mind, I'd like to go get settled down now."

Ludwig gave a small nod, "Very vell. Ve vill talk later."

Watching the German as he disappeared off down the hall, Antonio turned on his heel at once to take off down the hall, boots echoing off the walls. As he bounded around a corner, he let an arm reach out to the side in the process to snag a dark-brown haired Italian around the neck just as he was rounding the corner himself, sliding to a stop to pull him in tightly and securely against his chest.

Obviously he'd caught Lovino by surprise, judging from how the male remained still for a moment before he lifted his arms up to wrap around Antonio's waist, burying his face into the male's chest.

"What the hell took-a you so long to get here, _bastardo_?"

Chuckling lowly at his words, Antonio nuzzled his nose into the brown hair, inhaling the familiar scent of the other, "I thought I caught your scent." He cooed happily, grunting a bit as he felt a fist connect with his stomach.

"I don't know whether I should take-a that as an insult or not." Lovino muttered back, green eyes peering up at Spain from his chest accusingly.

Antonio shot him an exasperated look, "A compliment, my dear Lovino, I assure you." Lovino had a unique smell to him that Antonio could only describe as something like spices and a piney soap of sorts. It was quite a nice smell in his opinion.

Antonio reluctantly released his little Italian from his grasp, brushing back his bangs from his eyes lightly in a fond manner away from Lovino's cheek, his own green hues scanning into Lovino's for a moment as if he were trying to see what he was thinking.

Lovino supplied an answer.

"With your-a help we're sure to destroy them."

Forcing a small smile across his lips, Antonio gave a nod of agreement.

Though while he physically showed he was agreeing with what Lovino was saying, he couldn't help but think something completely different.

_Oh, Lovino. What thoughts did that crazy idiota put into your head…_

He'd seen Lovino threaten plenty of people before but he'd never seen him this determined to spill blood before and it made his stomach churn in worry and fear for the Italian.

Figuring it was wise to release some stress, he leaned forward to press his lips against Lovino's, quite happy when the Italian responded by pressing into it, his arms wrapping around Antonio's middle.

Opening his eyes, he turned Lovino around to press his back against the wall, tongue sliding out past the Italian's lips to run his tongue up across the roof of his mouth. His hand started to go for that curl that always got such lovely reactions out of the male…

"Well what do we have here? Is dis Antonio and Lovino?"

Antonio froze up at once and he could tell Lovino did as well from how the male's body tensed against his own.

Breaking the kiss, he released his hold on Lovino and straightened himself up to peer over to Eduard who had appeared with Raivis.

"_Hola_, Eduard…Raivis…" He mused, eyeing them with some slight disapproval at having been so rudely interrupted by the two.

Waltzing up over to the two, Eduard eyed the two over before glancing to Antonio, "I tought I shmelled a little lizard and a dog." He purred, glancing to Raivis who was calmly regarding the two with indifference though was making it a point to stick close to Eduard's side, his arms wrapped around the taller male's arm.

Antonio's eyes flashed an eerie green pupils turning into slits while a snarl rolled from his throat, dwindling off into a low hiss which caused an amused chuckle to sound from Eduard.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared~."

Antonio went to take a step towards Eduard but stopped to look down to Raivis who had met him half-way, bright red eyes glaring up at him at the thought of him even trying to pick a fight with Eduard.

Lovino had seemed to think the same thing as the Italian stepped in front of Antonio, a low growl rolling from his lips, the canines of his mouth having lengthened some while his eyes narrowed at Raivis. He would just _love _for the little blonde shrimp to pick a fight with Antonio.

Any conflict was stopped though as Eduard reached a hand out to rest it on Raivis' head.

"Now, now, Raivis. We musht be kind to our new gueshts, yesh?" Peering up to Antonio and Lovino who still looked ready to jump someone but Antonio and soothed his own agitation for now.

Raivis calmed instantly at the hand on his head and he gave a nod, turning around to grab Eduard's arm, pulling on it as if beckoning him to leave the two. Smiling to him, he glanced back to Antonio, eyeing him up and down briefly before giving a wave, "See you two later." He stated before turning to head off back down the hall with Raivis.

Once they were gone, Lovino calmed himself, gradually and slowly, "I would really like to punch-a them in the face…" He grumbled.

Antonio frowned, nodding in agreement. Without Russia there to rule over them with fear anymore they had certainly gotten cocky.

"Say, Lovino, would you like to show me around this place?"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: D: This chapter's kind of a fail. Lol.<p>

I had to put something in for Antonio getting to Ludwig's little compound though. xD And I'd tell you what Antonio is but that would ruin it. 3

;D You'll just have to wait and find out. Lol. And of course Lovino's a shape shifter and 'dog' probably gave you a hint but I still won't tell you. Because I'm a bitch like that. Mhmm.

And, by the way, I tried my best at an Estonian accent but I've never really heard anyone talk in one so it kind of failed. As does my Italian accents. C': Anyways. Hope you enjoyed. 3


	5. Confrontation and Deception

A small frown of displeasure crossed Alfred's lips as the trio made their way towards the large security gates that surrounded Ludwig's compound. The place looked like a maximum security prison, judging from how many guard towers there were around the perimeter and the design and layout of the place was so organized and in that strict, military manner.

Who would've thought that so much grey could exist in one area?

The fact they had been surrounded by German, Italian, Baltic and lord knew what other nationality of soldiers the minute they stepped foot near the base didn't make things any better for them. Not to mention since the men that had spotted them started pointing guns at them, Ivan seemed to go on the hostile defensive and started using that whole "intimidation" thing he was so good at pulling on people, sticking closely to Matthew's side as they walked, an angry growl sounding from him occasionally as someone was stupid enough to wander too close to Matthew with a weapon.

Or just got too close in general for the Russian's comfort.

Matthew himself couldn't help but feel extremely jittery and scared about the current area they were in. It definitely wasn't their cozy little cottage back in Canada and it was definitely _not _comforting in the least.

The blonde gulped thickly as he saw the looks on the men that had started to follow them as they walked past. There was obviously no doubt they were making sure that the trio wasn't going to do anything they weren't supposed to. Matthew felt scared enough that it was starting to make him feel a bit queasy and he felt bad for Ivan who no doubt was suffering through his emotions that were swinging back and forth like some pregnant woman.

Things only got worse for Matthew though when Ivan started to get angry with those following them. At first it was just a trickling irritation in the back of his head before it coursed through him all at once, causing him to falter in mid-step, a grimace crossing his face at the feeling of the hot fury that was going through Ivan at the moment.

It seemed his lover caught onto how it was making Matthew squirm though for the sensation cooled down back into that lingering trickle and the Canadian couldn't help but shoot Ivan a look of thanks. Matthew got mad now and then, sure, but it never seemed to be the intensity at which Ivan felt his anger and it always startled him whenever the Russian got into one of his angrier moods since Matthew was never quite sure what to do during those times besides wait them out.

Matthew had been too busy looking around the compound to notice when Ivan had stopped and let out a small grunt as he ran smack into the broad back, staggering back some to keep himself from falling over before he peered around him to see what had caused him to stop, the hold on Kumajirou tightening some to make sure the bear was still with him.

And what he saw made him pale in fear.

A blonde stood above them at the entrance of a large, stone building that rested at the top of a flight of stairs. His icy blue eyes were cold as he glared down at the trio and the just the way his arms were crossed over his chest and the slight spread of his legs showed he meant obvious business and, of course, he was dressed in an ever so crisp uniform. Though lately it seemed to have gone up quite a few levels of "spick and span". His boots were polished to a mirror-like gleam and one could clearly see the ironed seems of his army green uniform.

"Vell, I am quite surprised zhat you three actually showed up."

"Of course not! We wouldn't leave our friends to die!"

Blue eyes slid casually onto Alfred who had spoken up, a frown spreading over the German's lips, "Nein, of course not." He couldn't hold back the smile that slid along his lips though, "However, I'm sure Arthur vishes he vas dead now. Even you must agree zhose cuts on him look particularly _nasty_." He purred, chuckling in amusement as he saw the obvious rage appear on Alfred's face.

Who would've thought that using the Brit against him and his damn hero persona would work out so nicely?

Ignoring the glare that Alfred was giving him, he turned a bitter look onto Ivan, "Und you. You know, you owe me a lot of things now, ja?" He hissed, a dark aura starting to roll of him while his irises flashed an angry red that made Ivan instantly wary. According from what he'd heard from Spain in the past day, Ludwig was pissed because Feliciano had died and the German blamed Ivan for it. Of course Ivan had nothing to do with the little Italian's death since he'd been busy fighting off his crazy sister the entire time but since he'd started the war that was who Ludwig had decided to blame.

It partially was his fault he supposed. After all, if he hadn't started the war then the person who'd killed Feliciano wouldn't have gotten the chance to. Hell, for all they knew the actual killer could've been dead later on into all that chaotic fighting.

Feeling hands wrap around his own, Ivan glanced to Matthew quizzically for a moment before he noted he must've got the general idea of what he'd been feeling from the mild guilt that he must've picked up from his lover. Matthew was right, now wasn't the time to be dwelling on what could've happened if he hadn't started the damned war after all when they had bigger problems.

His thoughts were only confirmed when Ludwig started making his way down the stairs towards them.

The group that was no doubt inside the compound needed to hurry up.

And fast.

* * *

><p>True to his suspicions, Antonio had let in the others through the back door.<p>

Literally.

He'd learned the entire layout of the compound thanks to the help of Lovino and what he'd found out was that there was secret entrance and escape route through the library that lingered within the base.

As the Spaniard stood near the entrance he learned of, he listened quietly for the sound of the coded tap they'd come up with.

Hearing a single "tap", there was a pause before two consecutive taps sounded afterwards. Lifting a hand, he pulled the book "Im Westen nichts Neues" off the shelf, the entire section of the shelves sinking into the wall before sliding away to reveal Toris, Francis, Katsyusha, and Lila on the other side.

"Ah, _bonjour_, _mon cheri_. It's so nice seeing you. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go and get zis over with so we can get ze hell out of here, _non_?" Francis cooed before he adjusted the uniform that Antonio had given them so they could blend in easier before he tramped off quickly out of the library.

Looking to the others, Antonio gave a nod, indicating for them to follow.

"Now, I've found out where they are keeping de others. They are in the basement where dey keep dhe prisoners. Of course dhere is security but I've already shut down de cameras for exactly forty minutes. Dhat's all you have to get dhem and get out so don't mess up." He warned softly before shooing them away to disappear down the hall to go station himself where Ludwig had asked of him.

Turning to look to the group, Katsyusha gave a nod, "All right, ve need to hurry up and move quickly. Don't try to draw any suspicion towards us. Let's go."

Taking off down the hall, the group found it quite easy to move past the few guards who were stationed around with the uniforms Antonio had given them.

As they approached the heavy steel door that led down into the depths of the building, the group seemed to hold their breaths as Katsyusha opened the door. Peering around, they cautiously made their way down into the dimly lit basement.

Though it seemed more like a dungeon.

"Vash!"

Toris and Katsyusha jumped at Lila's sudden shout but relaxed some as they realized she'd found her brother. Running over to the cell she'd spotted him in and latched onto the bars, "Vash, vash!"

The blonde was obviously quite surprised at being shouted at but he recovered when he realized who it was and he stood up to go over to the bars of the cell, "Lila? What do you think you are doing here?" He exclaimed, eyes showing his obvious worry about his little sister in being in a place like this.

"Ve are here to rescue you all, big bruhder!"

Vash's green gaze traveled to Toris and Katsyusha before he frowned sternly, "You should not have come here! It is not safe!"

Katsyusha ignored the lecture Vash had been getting ready to go on and nudged Lila to the side, her eyes glowing red before she wrapped her hands around the bars of the cage, letting out a strained growl before she managed to rip the damned door off its hinges. Setting it down quietly, she moved on down the stretch of hall.

Vash promptly caught his sister in a fierce hug but broke it since now wasn't the best time to be celebrating just yet. They followed after Katsyusha who had been doing the same to the remaining cells, releasing the battered and weary comrades that had been locked away. Kiku seemed exhausted but his pride would never let him show it and he merely gave a word of thanks to the trio, Roderich promptly hugged Vash once he was out and Lila couldn't help but smile some. They always tried to act like they hated each other but she knew there was a lingering attraction between them. Elizaveta promptly hugged every one of them in relief to see everyone was all right, for the most part. When they released Tino, however, the small blonde was obviously worried.

"Arthur, check Arthur!"

That made Katsyusha extremely worried. Quickly, she moved to the Brit's cell and pulled it off its hinges, trying her best to not just throw it in her haste and quickly moved into the cell towards the blonde that was still on the blood soaked ground.

Her sense of smell heightened the irony scent and she grimaced some, "Arthur…"

No response.

"Arthur!"

Slowly, the blonde stirred some, blank green eyes opening partly, "K-kat…ka-…"

"Don't try talking." She encouraged before frowning. How were they going to get him out of here? It was hard enough trying to move everyone out but they'd need everyone fighting when they did and they couldn't move when they were carrying the limp Brit…

"Lila!"

The girl looked to them, green eyes widening some at the shout and she stepped forwards, "Yes?"

"Ve need you to carry Arthur."

Blinking a bit, Lila gave a nod before her green eyes started glowing a soft green, her form breaking into a white light before it started morphing into a shape of a horse of sorts, a horn growing from the forehead before the light broke to reveal the form of a unicorn. Stepping into the cell, she let Katsyusha pick up Arthur who groaned in mild pain and place him onto her back. Once they'd gotten him situated to where he wouldn't fall off when she moved.

Sighing, Katsyusha turned to the group with a frown, "All right, let's go. Ve're most likely going to have to fight our vay out so be ready and kill any guards before dey can go warn anyone if you can."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: D: Wow. Long chapter for me. Lol. I had to cut it short though so it wasn't too crazy long and so it didn't give everything away so quickly. xD Lol.<p>

Im Westen nichts Neues = the German title of All Quiet on the Western Front. C: I love that book and I figured Ludwig would have that in his library. 3


	6. When It Rains It Pours

"Oh, Ludwig,what are you planning?"

The Frenchman was currently digging through the contents of Ludwig's desk in his office, papers set onto the table when he figured they might've had some sort of significance to them.

And so far they had quite some significance.

From the looks of it Ludwig had been studying intently into dark magic. Sorcery, potions, namely it seemed it was on bringing people back to life. There were notes on what sort of things were needed for such a task, what time to do, how to do it… But while he had bits and pieces of information it said nothing of how to actually bring everything together to make it _work_.

This stuff could've possibly explained while he'd let Gilbert mess up Arthur so badly. Arthur was a warlock and magic was definitely his best known subject.

What Ludwig was trying to do was definitely magic and he seemed hell bent on making Arthur sing about what he needed to do.

Scanning quickly through a few more papers, he jumped a bit upon hearing gunshots and screams.

That was his cue to go.

Stuffing the papers into the desk, he tore out of the office as quickly as his legs could carry him, nearly running smack into Toris as he rounded a corner. "Ah! _Mon dieu_, don't scare me like zat!" He demanded, putting a hand over his heart with a heavy sigh.

Toris himself seemed a bit frazzled but Katsyusha interjected, "We need to go. Now."

The newly reunited party had gotten half-way down the hall back to the library when a guard had rounded the corner, seen who they were leading along and promptly ran back the way he'd came to get help. Katsyusha had caught him but it was too late by the time she'd managed to kill him and was forced to kill the few other guards who had been running to his aid.

No doubt the others in the vicinity had heard the gunshots that had followed and now they needed to get out of there before things got out of control.

* * *

><p>A hiss of mild discomfort sounded from Ivan as claws slid against the flesh of his arm.<p>

God damn, Ludwig was fast.

Seeing the claws launching their way back at him, Ivan dropped to his knees, avoiding the lethal weapons slicing off his head entirely and lashed out his foot to sweep the German's legs out from under him. Taking the moment to get up and distance the space between them and to catch his breath. Ivan peered over to Matthew who was holding his own arm where Ivan had been cut. Seeing the Canadian in the same aching pain he felt about getting cut made him all the more intent to avoid getting injured as much as possible. He hated seeing his angel in pain like that but to do that it meant having to keep up this game of cat and mouse with Ludwig.

He was a bit thankful though that the soldiers around them prevented Matthew and Alfred from fighting with him though. Namely Matthew, he didn't want him getting hurt but he knew Alfred was fuming at not being able to land any blows on the German without risking his brother and himself getting shot.

With a snarl, Ludwig got to his feet, his normally icy blue eyes having turned a fierce, burning red that seemed to express the utter hatred he felt towards the Russian.

"Vy don't you hold _still _and just accept your fate!" He snapped, a few strands of his usually neatly styled hair had slipped out of place and now hung limply in his face. He was far too preoccupied at the moment though to bother to brush them back into place.

"Because _I_ have something to live for." He stated simply, dodging another attack.

Matthew didn't like not being able to help Ivan, let alone being forced to watch the one on one attack taking place. He felt worried and panicked with each attack from Ludwig but he was more shocked at Ivan. He didn't detect anything from his lover at all. It was almost as if he wasn't even phased by Ludwig's attacks besides the mile sensation of pain if he managed to land a hit, the worry about Matthew himself and the Canadian even picked up a slight feel of…pity? Yes, it was definitely pity. He seemed to feel sorry for Ludwig having changed so drastically but there was obviously nothing he could do about it and nothing he could say to calm him down to think reasonably.

Luckily (or unluckily), a guard ran down the steps, shouting something in frantic German that caused Ludwig to stop in mid-attack. Whirling around to face the soldier, he frowned, "_Vas?_"

The soldier seemed to tremble a bit at the fury expressed by his Fuhrer but didn't get a chance to answer as an answer for the sudden problem crossed his mind. Anger boiled in him and he vanished from the spot, reappearing next to Antonio who had been watching the scene with a frown.

Needless to say the Spaniard was surprised to suddenly find claws around his neck and him dangling off the edge of the watchtower he'd been on.

"You. It vas _you_, vasn't it." Ludwig sneered, tightening his hold on the Spaniard which caused him to give out a choked sound, trying to pry the hand off of him though stopped when Lovino appeared, grabbing Ludwig's arm and tugging on it with obviously horrified eyes, "What are you-a doing, Ludwig? Let him go!"

Ludwig sneered at the Italian's words and narrowed his eyes at him, "Don't talk to me in such a tone. Zis bastard let in ze vones zat are helping _zem_." He snapped, indicating to the trio below who were watching in shock at having realized Antonio had been found out.

Lovino shook his head briskly, "No! Antonio wouldn't-a do that! He-…" He trailed off up glancing to the Spaniard and seeing the apologetic and guilty expression on his face. "Antonio…" he breathed, a rather hurt expression sliding across his face that made Antonio's own heart ache with regret.

"_Lo siento_, Lovino…" Antonio mused in response before his eyes flashed that eerie green color and his form quickly changed into that of a large dragon-like reptile. His body was covered in a dark, charcoal-brown scales and he promptly swept aside Ludwig with a swipe from his tail before he spread the bat-like wings morphed from the sides of his body and swooped away from the watchtower to land swiftly onto the ground next to his allies.

Matthew, Ivan, and Alfred at once scrambled onto the back of the Cuélebre, settling down inbetween the spikes that ran along his back and hung on tightly while the serpent-dragon took off into the air at once, avoiding the spray of bullets as he sped away.

Lovino meanwhile was left in a stunned state while Ludwig snarled angrily, having picked himself up from the ground and briskly headed inside to try to catch the infiltrators before they too escaped

Katsyusha and the others had managed to make it to the library, having promptly locked the doors and barred them shut with a piece of iron that Katsyusha had pried off the side of the wall and bent it through the handlebars on the door. "Quickly!" She ordered, moving to the bookshelf and locating the book Antonio had told her about. The passage had just opened when the door shuddered violently on its hinges as something on the other side hit it.

The group jumped but quickly moved into the passage. Pressing a brick on the side of the wall next to the opening once everyone was inside, Katsyusha was relieved when the shelf started to slide closed. Taking Arthur from Lila since it was far too narrow for her unicorn form to run easily through the passage, she hauled him easily into her arms and took off down the passage to lead the way out.

* * *

><p>However, Ludwig had been hell bent on getting the door open. Raising his leg again, he delivered another solid kick that caused the wood to splinter inwards into the room, leaving a big enough gap for him to duck in. The passage was already too far shut to reach them and it wouldn't open without fully closing itself so that left one option.<p>

Pulling out the Luger that was strapped to his side, Ludwig pointed the weapon at the small gap in between the opening that was left and fired.

* * *

><p>The sound of the pistol firing echoed within the passage and a small gasp sounded from someone. Whirling around, Katsyusha scanned everyone over. They all seemed to be ok besides the fact being rather startled and looking around to see who had gasped. At once, Katsyusha felt her heart sink upon seeing the wide green eyes of Lila who'd stopped in her tracks.<p>

"Lila…" She breathed.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Two updates in one day? Whut? xD Lol. I was bored though so I typed away and here you ugys go, another update.<p>

A Cuélebre is a spanish dragon of sorts. It's like a snake but has wings that are inside its body until it needs to fly, guards treasure and such. You can read more on it on wikipedia or somewhere else but I didn't use every single aspect of a Cuélebre such as the fact that they can keep a xanas (a female fairy nymph) as a prisoner and lives in caves. xD I just wanted Antonio to be a Cuélebre since it seemed coool. 3


	7. Quick Escape

The lone crack had seemed to echo in the tunnel they'd disappeared into and everything was dropped into pitch black darkness the second the remaining space left of the bookshelf slid shut.

Someone cursed angrily and soon a small glow of a light green light lit up the general area they were in. Katsyusha glanced to Elizaveta who had used some of her own powers to light up the area they were in since Arthur wasn't of use at the moment and they needed some form of light.

A small yelp sounded from Toris who promptly caught Lila who'd ended up falling against him. His nose caught the scent of blood and he narrowed his gaze some in an attempt to see better in the minimal light, red filming over his irises, allowing him to see better in the dark and he made out the dark stain that was growing over the front of Lila's uniform. Paling some at the sight, the male quickly picked up the blonde into his arms, "We have to hurry, I think Lila got hit!" He exclaimed. And they had to make that two good reasons considering there were now voices on the opposite side of the bookshelf that had closed behind them, signaling someone was going to be following them very soon.

Vash almost said something but Roderich had cut him off considering now wasn't the best time to start freaking out.

The group took off down the tunnel once more, voices soon bouncing off the walls behind them as they ran as Ludwig and his soldiers persude them. Katsyusha nearly took the door off the hinges as they busted through it at the end of the tunnel and into the setting light of the sun and sprinted to the plane that America had brought them in with.

"Hurry, hurry!" Katsyusha hissed, standing to the side to make sure everyone got on before hopping in herself.

Francis lunged into the co-pilot seat and grabbed the pilot's arm, the American looking a bit startled to suddenly be grabbed.

"Get zis bucket off ze ground! Now!"

The pilot got the gist and threw the plane into flight mode; he'd been getting ready to run a flight systems check until Elizaveta let out a cry of alarm.

"Katsyusha! Ludwig!"

The woman didn't need to even look to know the German was coming up out of the tunnel now. Francis let out a startled squeak and the pilot caught the urgency of the situation for he dropped the systems check all together and started pressing and flipping buttons and switches. The plane began to drone down across the flat surface of ground but Ludwig wasn't planning on letting them get away that easily.

Katsyusha was horrified to see the blonde _chasing them down_ and darted to the front of the plane as fast as she could. Grabbing the steering column out of the pilot's hands, she yanked it back sharply, the plane lurching unsteadily into the sky but out of the reach of Ludwig who would've been able to jump on had she not done so.

Wide eyes watched Ludwig and the ground fall away before the pilot managed to pry Katsyusha's hand off the column so he could level them out into the sky.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Katsyusha's happiness was interrupted as Elizaveta reminded her about Arthur and Lila. Paling at the mention of the girl, the demon quickly ran to the back of the plane where the group was standing around Lila and Arthur. Vash was almost in hysterics when he saw the blood on Lila but Roderich was luckily keeping him out of the way by holding him tightly against him while he flailed and yelled at the brunette to let him go but the Austrian would hear none of it.

Moving to the girl, Katsyusha grimaced at the sight of the blood, "Lila? Can you hear me? Can you talk?"

Hazy green eyes fluttered open and the blonde girl managed a weak smile, "Oh, h-hey..." She managed to breathe out, tough the action didn't settle well with her wound and she ended up coughing, a few splatters of blood coming from her mouth in the process which she promptly blocked with a hand to keep it from hitting anyone.

Katsyusha motioned for her to stop talking for now and unbuttoned her uniform as carefully as she could, peeling it off to get a better look at the wound. The bullet seemed to have gone through her shoulder somewhere and came out the front right in the shoulder area above her heart.

And blood was still flowing freely.

Grimacing, Katsyusha glanced to Vash who was staring in horror and she waved a hand towards the front of the plan, "Elizaveta, Roderich, take Vash up front, please." He didn't need to be seeing this since it wasn't going to help the situation any if he got free of Roderich and proceeded to completely freak out.

Once they were gone, she tried to move the girl to examine the wound from the back but she let out a pained yelp and Katsyusha stopped moving her all together.

This was not working out…

Toris had been busy looking at Arthur and he deemed he was going to be all right. He was cut up, beat up, bruised and he was fairly certain a few ribs were fractured or broken and the Brit was going to be _extremely _sore for a while, but he'd be fine. He was asleep again now so he moved to look over Katsyusha's shoulder as she thought about what to do for Lila.

"She's losing a lot of blood…" He mused.

Katsyusha shot him a glare, "You're not helping any!"

Toris nodded in agreement, "I know. But there's nothing we can do for her right now until we get back. There's a first aid kit with bandages that we can put pressure on the wound with but other than that…" They were useless with her type of wound.

Giving him a small look of distress, Katsyusha soon nodded before standing to go fetch the first aid kit. Once she had it, she quickly took the bandages from the case, before sighing, "Sorry, Lila, but this is going to hurt…" Taking the folded bandages, she pressed down against the wound, leaning into it and wincing a bit as the girl let out a pained cry, trying to get Katsyusha off her but Toris held down her good arm with an equally pained expression at having to do such a thing but it was for her own good.

Katsyusha just hope this plane got back _fast_ or else it was going to get even worse.

* * *

><p>Author's note: =u=;;; Short, fail chapter. Yaaay. Lol. Next one will be better, I promise.<p> 


	8. A True Hero

As soon as tires touched down with a screech against the asphalt of one of the runways that was located on America's base and the plane had eventually slowed to a gradual halt, Katsyusha had kicked open the door of the plane to jump out onto the ground, carrying a limp Arthur while Toris was carrying the equally still Lila.

Of course, in a matter of seconds, Alfred had practically ambushed her before she could take a few steps to check on Arthur. The blonde scrambled in front of her and placed his hands against the male's pale cheeks, bright blue eyes wide with worry.

"Artie! Hey! Wake up!"

"Alfred! Be quiet, he's lost too much blood and he probably doesn't vant to vake up because if he does he'll be in more pain dan vhat he can feel now."

The American gave her a distressed sort of look but reluctantly nodded, withdrawing his hands from the Brit's face to follow on her heels like the distressed lover he was.

Making a small face at the sudden sensation of panic that hit him, Ivan paused from watching Katsyusha carry off Arthur. There had been much he wanted to discuss with her but now wasn't exactly the best time. And besides, whatever Matthew was freaking out about it must've been worse than Arthur's condition.

And completely unexpected.

Turning his violet gaze to where Matthew was standing near the door of the plane, he couldn't help but feel glad to see that everyone who had been captured was present. Of course, not overly glad considering he didn't exactly know these people nor did he like them much but if it got him his heart back, then sure, he'd feel some joy at seeing them coming out of the plane alive.

Or for the most part anyway.

His brows furrowed at once as his gaze landed on Toris who was carrying a small blonde. He'd seen her somewhere, what was her name? He was struggling with that one for a moment before he quickly remembered. It was Lila! Her brother was Vash and she was one of the ones who'd they'd figured would be a helpful person to have around since she was usually quite calm and she had a reason to go into enemy territory since her brother was there.

But judging from the blood that covered her she hadn't got out unscathed.

Watching solemnly as the group rushed past to follow Katsyusha to the hospital building, Ivan blinked upon feeling arms wrap around his own. Slowly he turned his gaze away from the group to look to Matthew whose watery blue eyes were filled with worry. Making a small face, Ivan sighed, "You're actually starting to make me feel scared for them vith how much you're freaking out, Matvie."

"Ah…s-sorry, Ivan. I- I just can't help it th-though…"

"…Vhat are you tinking about now?"

"O-oh, just… some things..."

Ivan pulled his arm out of his angel's grip, much to the blonde's confusion, only to wrap it comfortingly around his shoulders. Matthew couldn't help but give him a small smile. He always knew what he needed even if Matthew himself didn't. To tell the truth, he couldn't get his mind off Ludwig. Had he really gone so far off the deep end that he'd resort to hurting his own friends now?

Well, technically he didn't really consider them friends anymore. But surely there was some connection at least that would prevent him from doing something this drastic!

Obviously Feliciano's death had hit him harder than anyone would've assumed.

* * *

><p>Alfred waited quietly in the hallway of the hospital, his boots clicking up and down the hall as he paced back and forth and, to be frank, it was driving Toris insane listening to it.<p>

"Alfred, please, sit down! You're going to make a hole in the floor at this rate…"

The blonde snapped from his thoughts to shoot Toris a confused look for a moment before he heaved a sigh and moved over to the chair next to the brunette to sit down with a small growl of distress, "Sorry, Toris…"

The brunette patted Alfred's back softly, "It's all right, and you're just worried after all. I'm sure Arthur's going to be just fine."

At that moment, a doctor appeared from the room that Alfred had been pacing so diligently across from, wiping his blood-covered hands onto a rag with a sigh, giving the two a tired smile, "He'll be all right, but he did sustain quite an amount of injuries on him. Those lacerations were definitely caused by a knife or something similar to it and he did have a few fractured ribs and another fracture on his arm, and of course there are a good amount of bruises on him."

"Can…can I see him?"

The doctor frowned a bit but nodded, "I suppose you can. But he's not awake right now, the anesthesia's still wearing off some and even then he'll still want to sleep I'm sure. Being on pain killers can really knock a person on their ass."

Nodding, Alfred stood up to slip into the room, closing the door behind him.

Half of the bright fluorescent lights had been turned off so Arthur could sleep in relative darkness and a metal table rested nearby the bed, covered in various tools the doctor's used along with some sterilizer and bloodied pieces of cloth and bandages from when they'd been cleaning him up.

Letting his gaze slide over the male, Alfred sighed, "Oh, Arthur…" He looked much better than he had now that he wasn't covered in blood and he'd been bandaged up properly. Swallowing thickly, Alfred let out a shaky breath, "God, this is my fault…" He whispered out, sitting down on the edge of the male's bed to rest his forehead onto his hands. "I couldn't help you guys. What the hell kind of hero am I if I can't even do that right?" He cursed softly upon feeling a few tears roll down across his cheeks and he promptly wiped them away with the sleeve of his coat.

"Y-you…bl-bloody….wan-…wanker…"

Blinking, Alfred opened his eyes to peer over to Arthur whose hazy green eyes had opened some to shoot him a weak glare.

"Arthur-…"

"D-don't you go…talk-…talking like that, f-fucking…dumb…ass…"

Alfred maneuvered himself at once to face him some, "Arthur, really, you shouldn't be talking! Go back to sleep, you need the rest!"

Arthur swatted away the hand that had been going to brush back his bangs in favor of continuing his lecture, "It's…not your fault, i-idiot. You can't blame yourself…after-…after all, y-you…you got us out, didn't you?"

Alfred went to argue that he hadn't done it personally himself but Arthur cut him off.

"Even if you didn't d-do it…single handedly, y-you still found people to get us out." He blinked groggily to try to keep himself awake, "It-…it takes a-…a real hero to know…when he needs help."

Arthur turned his gaze back to Alfred and flinched some upon seeing the tears welled up in his blue eyes, making them turn an even more crystal blue than they already were, "Wh-what the bloody hell is-…is that look for?"

Alfred gave a sentimental smile before laughing loudly and wiping the tears from his eyes, "That's…that's the most emotional thing you-…you've ever said, dude!"

Arthur managed to turn a slide shade of red despite the lack of blood in his body and scowled, "Sh-shut your trap!" He blinked though upon feeling a hand wrap around his own and he looked to Alfred's hand that had wound securely around his own.

"Just shut up and go to sleep before I hafta knock you out myself."

Smiling some, Arthur finally let his eyes slip shut and slid back into his dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: x3 I love me some Alfred x Arthur. Buahahaha. 3 They're so cute together, no one can deny it. Anyone who does will have to face Ludwig's whip. =A= Oh yeah.<p> 


	9. Reassurance

A soft sigh was emitted from Roderich as he watched the blonde across the hall pressing his face up against the glass window on the door, trying desperately to see through the plastic curtain that had been drawn around the bed where his sister lay as the doctor's worked on her.

"Vash, you need to sit already. Zhere's nozhing zhat you can do now besides sit."

"But-."

"_Now_, Vash."

The blonde narrowed his eyes some at the brunette but reluctantly withdrew from the window to go back to the row of chairs that were pressed against the far wall, sitting down in the seat next to Roderich with a heavy sigh. Seeing the male's obvious distress, Roderich lifted a hand to place it onto the head of hair, drawing the male closer to him so he could lean down and press a brief kiss to the top of his head, "You vorry too much. She'll be fine."

Vash shot the male an doubtful look, "And how do _you _know? You can't even go to the supermarket without getting lost, why should you know about this?"

Roderich shot him a slight look of annoyance, "My sense of direction and my judgment are two different zhings. Besides, zhe doctors said zhat zey had seen worse."

Before Vash could say anything else, the door swung open and both males shut up to peer to the doctor who'd come out wiping blood from his hands and onto a towel, "I have good news and bad news."

Vash quite literally paled upon hearing that.

"The good news is, Lila will be fine; the bullet barely missed hitting her heart all together. The bad news is she won't be able to leave the hospital for at least a month."

"A _month_?"

Roderich promptly snagged Vash before he could go pummel the doctor and slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet, "Vhy is zhat, doctor?"

"Well, it missed her heart. But we do believe the shockwave from the impact may have caused some damage to the muscles of it so we would like to keep her under supervision. I would let you in to see her but she's sleeping right now and needs her rest."

Vash seemed to have calmed down enough so Roderich released him. A rather defeated look spread over Vash's face and he nodded, "All right… Tell me when she wakes up though." He demanded before following Roderich who had started to lead him down the hall before he could try to do something stupid again.

They didn't get very far down the hall when a commotion suddenly started up.

"Alfred, come here."

"Aaaahhh! I said I was sorry!"

Both males gave each other a puzzled look before scampering around a corner a bit of the way down the hall in time to see Alfred come darting around the opposite corner of the hall with obvious worry written across his face which soon turned elated to see two potential rescuers.

"Vash, Roderich! Oh, thank _god_ you're here. Now, maybe you can talk some sense into _him_!"

The two were rather confused as to whom he was talking about but they got an idea of who it was upon seeing a familiar Greecian come walking calmly around the corner, a large spear in hand who's lethally designed head was that of a cross, the points of it sharpened into arrows while at the bottom half of the spear lay a simple metal point that was obviously meant for stabbing… Potentially meant for stabbing Alfred in particular, judging from how the blonde was reacting by hiding behind Vash and Roderich.

"Oh, h-hey, Heracles…"

Roderich was more than confused but obviously on the wary side while Vash himself frowned, "What the hell are you doing now, Heracles?"

"Well, I thought I would just have a nice chat with Alfred about how he didn't inform me of this little rescue mission prior to going…" Heracles answered simply, a small smile sliding over his lips.

"Heracles-san! What do you think you are doing carrying a thing like that around inside of a hospital!"

Blinking at the voice, Heracles looked over his shoulder to Kiku who had caught wind of the possible fight through a nurse who'd passed them up in the hall on the way to take care of Kiku's dressings.

Green eyes scanned over the dark-haired male and despite the various bandages that were patched onto him and the various bruises, he seemed quite all right. Walking over to him, he stared at the male for a moment before wrapping his arms around him, pulling him snuggly against his chest for a moment.

Blinking at the sudden hug, Kiku wasn't quite sure how to respond to that for a moment. Hugs weren't really something they threw around in Japan but he was quite used to Feliciano latching onto him randomly and since it was Heracles it was a bit different than Feliciano's hugs. Slowly, he lifted his arms to wrap them around the Greecian which made the brunette chuckle, "Oh, you are hugging back now?"

Blushing at his words, Kiku glanced away, "If you are going to tease me then I will never hug you again."

"Mmmm, how about a kiss then?" Heracles cooed in response, leaning down to snag a quick one but was denied as a hand slid in between his and Kiku's lips, a pout at once forming across his face at the denial.

Kiku of course had turned a considerable red color at being offered up a kiss in public of all places and he promptly shook his head, "N-not here!" He hissed in embarrassment, noting the smug look on Roderich's face as he watched. "A-and anyways…why are you chasing after Alfred with this?" He demanded, indicating the spear.

Blinking, Heracles released Kiku to look to the weapon before smiling, "Ahh, well, I wanted to be the one to rescue you and he did not tell me about it."

"Well, I am sure Alfred had his reasons so there is no need to go around threatening people so carelessly!"

Alfred, now feeling safe that Kiku was here to reign in his offended lover, slid out from behind Vash and Roderich, "Actually, I just completely forgot about him. Ahahahaha~." He realized what he said when the Greecian turned a dark look onto him and he grimaced, "I-…I mean, we should hurry up to the meeting room. Francis said there was something he needed to tell us and Antonion has some information too." With that, he turned and briskly walked down the hall, Vash and Roderich trailing after him to leave the other two to follow.

"That American is troublesome…"

Kiku sighed at Heracles' words, "Come on, we should hurry so we do not keep them waiting."

Heracles nodded but, before Kiku could move, snagged the man around the waist to promptly lean down press his lips briefly against Kiku's, pulling away before he could think about what had happened with a sly smile, "Yes, we should go now."

Flushing hotly at the brash action, Kiku pressed his fingers to his lips and remained in a stunned state for a moment before he trailed after Heracles, a half-hearted scowl of disapproval crossing his face, "I knew you were a pervert." The chuckle that sounded from the Greecian only proved his assumptions.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: =u=;; Yay, fillerfail chapter. Lol. Wasn't quite sure what to put but it came out better than I thought it would. :O You shall find out moar on what Ludwig's doin' up in his crib next chapter.


	10. Questions and Clues

Francis and Antonio looked up from some papers they'd been talking over, papers that appeared to have been crudely drawn diagrams that Francis had remembered from Ludwig's papers. Some things he'd been unclear about but during the week that Antonio had been one of Ludwig's men, the Spaniard had picked up on a few more bits of information that made sense to some of the things that Francis had seen in Ludwig's office.

As Roderich, Alfred and Vash entered, followed by Kiku and Heracles, the two men paused in their discussion, "About time you showed up, for a second I thought zhat it was just going to be me and _mon ami_ here." Francis cooed, pouting some. And to think no one else would've heard such wonderful information.

Well…not so wonderful, but it was useful nonetheless.

Once everyone had seated, Francis went to begin speaking until Alfred shot up from his chair, "Wait! Hold up, dude! Where's my brother?"

Roderich frowned thoughtfully, "Vell, I saw him vith Elizaveta vhen ve left but I saw her vhen ve vere going to see Lila… She said somzhing about wanting to go help take care of Arthur… So perhaps he is vith Ivan?"

Alfred's brow twitched some at the notion. "With…Ivan… Fifty bucks says that bastard's trying to screw him!" Alfred nearly knocked over his chair to get to the door.

Obviously the shock and mild depression upon having their friends being held hostage had worn off once he'd found out everyone was relatively all right.

Francis blinked at the sudden change in topic and sighed, "Alfred, what do you zink you're doing? No one can use your filthy American money so sit down, _s'il te plait_."

Before he could go bursting out the door, the door itself swung open and a puzzled and surprised Matthew stood in the doorway, an equally confused Ivan looming behind him. Blinking, Alfred stared quietly at them for a moment before eyeing Ivan suspiciously, "What too you two so long, huh?" He demanded, glancing to Matthew accusingly, "Screwing around, maybe?"

Matthew flushed hotly and Ivan smirked at the obvious panic and embarrassment Matthew felt at such a forward question and he wrapped an arm around Matthew to lean down and nuzzle into his blonde locks, violet gaze flicking teasingly to Alfred, "Perhaps…"

Luckily, Vash promptly dragged Alfred back to his seat before the blonde could do something stupid like try to pick a fight with the Russian so they could get on with the meeting.

Ivan ignored the slight look that Matthew was giving him because he very well knew he was not happy with how he'd antagonized his brother and instead led his angel over to a seat, pulling out a chair for him which in turn made the frown on his face turn upside down into a bashful smile. Chuckling, Ivan pushed in the chair once he'd sat down before taking his own seat.

Clearing his throat, Francis sighed, "Now zhat everyone's _done _with their distractions, we can get to business."

Rummaging through the papers, Francis pulled out a paper that held various shapes and strange letters that were certainly not part of anyone's alphabet, "When I went into Ludwig's office, zhere were many zhings in there that I myself didn't recognize like these diagrams." On that note, he passed out the paper for everyone to see, "I 'ave a feeling zhat Arthur will know more about zhese zhan anyone else and I plan to ask 'im when 'e's 'ad more time to recover. But from what I've seen, Ludwig appears to me meddling in dark magic which would certainly explain why Arthur 'ad ze worst wounds because 'e refused to talk."

Antonio nodded in agreement, "And while I was dhere, I heard from Lovino dhat whatever Ludwig's doing, it's something dhat has never worked in de history of de world but for some reason he's very confident dhat it will work."

Francis interjected with a serious frown, "Which is why we should be more diligent. We don't know what to expect from 'im and it's obvious he will do anyzhing zhese days."

"But also, I have found out who else is with him. Besides Lovino, dhere's Raivis, Eduard and, of course, Gilbert."

A frown crossed Ivan's lips at once at the mention of his two former Baltics and Matthew glanced over to his lover at the sudden dip in his emotions and his brows furrowed some in mild question but Ivan noted his stare and shook his head in a sign he'd explain later.

"I myself am not sure what he's planning, but I have seen Feliciano. It doesn't even look like he's dead with how well Ludwig's kept him. Dhere's also a bunch of old books he's been reading through about dhat creepy occult stuff." Antonio explained, wiggling his fingers in the air for emphasis on the 'occult' aspect of it. "Dhere was also some doodles I saw of a human outline with more of the strange letters but dhere was a ball of some sort that was coming from another human outline with arrows pointing to the other. I'm not exactly sure what that entitles, but whatever he's planning, it's going to be something big. But I honestly don't think he's even trying to take over de world or anything but he has one hell of a drive to get something."

Francis ran a hand through his hair with a nod before sighing, "But zhat's everyzhing we've been able to figure out so far. We'll let you know if zhere's anyzhing else we find out when we do. You all may leave now."

Everyone seemed rather troubled about all of this but it wasn't going to be good to think about such troubling things after having just barely escaped themselves. But they couldn't just blow it off either, that much was obvious.

"Well, I'll come get ya whenever Arthur wakes up next, Francis." Alfred explained, standing up with a yawn, "For now, you guys should go rest. I'm sure as hell we all need it." With that, he went to the door, pausing before he left before flashing that trademark 'hero' grin of his, "Oh, good job by the way, dudes." With that, he disappeared out the door, Vash and Roderich left soon after but Heracles and Kiku went to go examine the papers that Francis and Antonio had been looking at. Their voices sounding lowly between each other as they pondered over the possible meaning of some of the designs and letterings on the paper.

Sighing, Matthew wilted over Kumajirou who was nestled on his lap, nuzzling his cheek into the soft white fur of the bear with a small whine.

"Vhy so distressed, Angel?"

Peering up at Ivan's words, Matthew smiled softly, "Ah, w-well…it-…it just seems like everything went too easily." He laughed lightly before sitting up to smooth down Kumajirou's fur down from where he'd mused it up with his nuzzling, "Maybe-…maybe I'm just being kind of paranoid though, y-y'know?"

Ivan gave a soft sigh and lifted an arm to wrap it around Matthew's shoulders, running his fingers through the blonde's hair, "Vell, I have to agree vith you. Things did go far too easily dhan I thought dey vould. But just be glad your friends got out all right."

A thoughtful look crossed his face and Matthew gave a nod of agreement, "You're right, b-but, they're your friends too."

Ivan quirked a brow at Matthew and the blonde grimaced a bit, "W-well, not-…not _exactly _your friends. But th-they trust you more now."

Laughing a bit at Matthew's words, Ivan nodded, "It's only because dey have to, I'm sure. But let's go take a nap for now, da? It's been a long day."

Nodding, Matthew stood up, catching Ivan's hand to lace their fingers together as they headed out of the room.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Ok. I lied. xD I didn't reveal all that much about Ludwig's plan because Arthur has to do it! :I Everything's more legit when Arthur explains it. Lol.<p> 


	11. Some Alone Time

The moment that Matthew's foot crossed the threshold of the little apartment of sorts that America had loaned out to them for the time being while this whole business with Ludwig was going down, a heavy sigh of relief sounded from the small blonde. It was a relief to be somewhere where he felt he could actually relax for once instead of worrying whether or not Ludwig was going to try to kill them or just the whole fiasco that was going on in general. But it wasn't exactly 'home' per se considering there weren't any sunflowers to brighten up the room nor was it as cozy and warm as Matthew's. It made him feel rather homesick to tell the truth but it was for a good reason that they were here. If they were all in one place then Ludwig wouldn't be able to capture them all one at a time like he'd been able too before-hand.

Setting Kumajirou onto the bed, Matthew plopped down next to the bear who'd taken up an interest in the window for some strange reason. Matthew wasn't sure why he was looking at it so intently since there was nothing there but the bear was a strange one. But he was quite surprised when his little friend was plucked off the bed. Blinking in surprise, he turned his blue gaze onto Ivan who'd promptly deposited the creature into the closet, shutting the door on him and a rather horrified look crossed his features at once, "I-Ivan! Wha-what'd you do that for?" He demanded, standing up at once to go help Kumajrou from the closet only to be blocked by Ivan's bulk. Blinking in surprise, he peered up to meet the Russian's violet eyes and at once a blush spread over his face.

He knew that look quite well…

Before he could say anything though, Ivan had pulled the scarf off from around his neck and had undid the buttons on his coat in a matter of seconds before he promptly pushed the Canadian back onto the bed to crawl on top of him, sliding a leg up between his legs before he began to press kisses up against his throat, earning quite the lovely little whine from his angel due to the sudden shock of pleasure to his system. No doubt they hadn't done anything like this in quite a while considering everything that had been going on, sex was the last thing on their minds. But now that things had calmed down somewhat, it was due time to relieve some stress, now wasn't it~?

"I-…Ivan!" He panted out, pulling away from the kiss some to get in a gulp of air while he hand the chance before he was caught back into the kiss, unable to do anything but kiss back as the Russian's tongue invaded his mouth, probing around anything the slick muscle could come into contact with. Perhaps Matthew didn't have much room to say whether or not someone was the best kisser in the world or anything but he'd like to think it was truth enough to say that Ivan was one hell of a kisser. His back arched some as he felt a broad hand slide up his shirt to brush against a nipple, sending shocks of electricity straight down his spine that seemed to be hardwired directly to his crotch.

Ivan, having heard the sharp moan that sounded from his little Canadian, immediately grinned in response, "Mmmnn, I've missed doing dhese sorts of dhings, Angel…" He breathed against his throat, letting his teeth graze against the pale skin there hard enough to leave red marks that contrasted quite nicely.

Oh, how pissed Alfred would be at him for leaving those there~.

Whatever reluctance Matthew had found about doing such a thing in a situation like this when they should've been thinking about what Ludwig could have planned for them next was wiped away from his mind at once the more he picked up on the waves of need and arousal that was coming off of Ivan like waves hitting against a shoreline and everyone knew how hard it was to try to keep from getting swept away during high tide. So it didn't take much persuasion at all to get Matthew to comply.

The blonde locked his arms up around Ivan's neck, pulling him closer down to him while the Russian had busied himself with pulling the Canadian's sweater off him.

Literally.

He hadn't wanted to bother with actually taking the time to break their kiss to pull it over his head when it was much easier to just rip it off. Judging from the sudden hit of despair against his senses the Canadian was none too happy about having another shirt ripped off him and Ivan merely pulled away to chuckle lowly against his lips, "_Prastee meenya pozhalosta_, I vill get you anodher one, da?" He bargained, smiling when he saw Matthew eye him in mild displeasure for a moment but nodded nonetheless. At once he started working on his lover's pants and it didn't take much time at all to get him out of those.

Ivan had long since found the quickest way of getting Matthew out of his pants.

While he'd taken the time to back off to get Matthew stripped down, Ivan figured it was best to get himself free of his own restricting clothes and tossed them carelessly across the room before pouncing back onto Matthew before he had enough time to realize what had happened.

With their tongues battling against each other, Matthew let out a heated moan as Ivan wrapped his hand around his growing erection, the warm, constricting heat around him making a throb shoot its way through his loins, causing his fingers to curl into Ivan's shoulders, dragging marks across the skin there. "Hah! S-sun-…Sunflower, don't…d-don't tease…" He whined softly against his throat, a shiver shooting down his spine at once as he felt the Russian's lips nipping softly against the pulse of his throat.

"But I haven't stretched you out any, Angel…"  
>"Do-don't…I don't c-care, eh. I-it's been so long, and-and I need…need you!" He panted out, squirming against him with another moan as the hand pushed down onto his erection before pulling firmly back up, his heart rate escalating quite a bit to a point that Ivan could nearly feel a pulse beating through his own veins even if he lacked the heart for it to do so. Or maybe his heart really was beating at this rate wherever it'd been locked up by Alfred and it was just having some connection to his body despite the fact it wasn't inside of him.<p>

"…All right." He complied, sliding his hands down along the smooth skin of Matthew's hips and to his thighs were he wrapped his hands around the soft flesh to push his legs up towards his chest, pulling one hand away to help guide himself towards the smaller male's entrance, feeling the muscles in his legs tense up in anticipation and Ivan stopped at once on purpose. "If you tense up, Angel, it's going to hurt more dhan it should…"

"O-oh…s-sorry, Ivan…"

He merely smiled in understanding before he continued, groaning softly as he felt the slight resistance of Matthew's body before it finally gave way into that warm, tight cavern that he loved so much. Gradually pushing his way into the moist heat, he stopped once he'd fully sheathed himself and used his arm to lean onto the bed near Matthew's head, panting heavily as he studied the expression on the Canadian's face. He didn't seem to be reacting much besides having his eyes squeezed shut with some tears in the corners of his eyes and his teeth clamped down onto that supple bottom lip of his.

"Angel."

At once the eyes fluttered open in recognition and he gave a soft nod, "I-I'm all righ-AH!" He yelped, eyes widening as he suddenly felt the hardened flesh pushing into him, the tip brushing up against his prostate, "I-Ivan!" He exclaimed in a mixture of pleasure and shock at the sudden movement he'd pulled on him. Scowling at the chuckle that sounded from the male, he shot him a small pout that quickly wiped the smile from his lips.

Well, he at least _attempted _to look sincere anyways.

"If-…you're going to move d-don't just stop now!" He exclaimed, only to be shut up as Ivan's tongue pushed its way into his mouth. The two remained locked in a passionate kiss while Ivan picked up his pace again and he was getting rougher, judging from the way Matthew could feel the muscles underneath the layer of skin covering Ivan's back tense and relax as he thrust his hips into him.

"A-angel…" Ivan breathed, nuzzling into the male's neck as he shifted his position some to get a better angle on his thrusts, teeth gritting together when he felt the muscles inside of Matthew constricting as he came into contact with that lovely little bundle of nerves that never failed to make his angel sing like a bird. Smiling at the loud moan that sounded from him, Ivan continued to aim for the sweet spot inside of him until he felt Matthew's hold on him tighten, the arms that were round around his neck tightening considerably and that only made him thrust harder into him, the bed frame smacking up against the wall with each push. Perhaps he should've taken into consideration they were in an apartment where there was bound to be someone else to hear the loud thuds echoing off the wall.

Stars sprang into his vision momentarily however as he came, grunting lowly as he felt Matthew latch onto him with a pleasured cry, the smaller male arching up against his body. They remained like that for a few moments, panting as the waves of pleasure slowly dissipated. Ivan pressed soft kisses against his throat for a few moments before he slowly pulled himself out of him to flop down onto the spot next to him with a content sigh, letting his gaze slide over to his Angel who still seemed to be trying to recover. Rolling over onto his side, Ivan wound an arm around his slim waist to pull him up against his body, "Now, vasn't dhat nice?" He purred into his ear, licking the shell of it softly, grinning as a hand came up to push his face away from him.

"Y-you could've at least asked…"

"Mmmm, you know I don't like to ask."

That was certainly true about the Russian and Matthew could do nothing else but give a sleepy smile and snuggle up against his chest, "Eh…I suppose you're right?" He murmured before letting his eyes slip closed.

Smiling, Ivan watched the blonde rest, his fingers stroking through his hair soothingly before he soon felt his own eyes growing heavy and in a matter of moments had slid off into a light sleep, snuggling up against his blonde lover in the process.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: D: Duuudes! Sorry it took so long! I've been hella busy lately.<p>

xD And I figured it was about time we had some smut in hur, even if it was sort of fail but I typed it, at last. ;u;

_Prastee meenya pozhalosta_ = forgive me please.


	12. Plan B

Matthew had been sleeping quite contentedly in the arm of the Russian, curled up snuggly against his chest. He could've been fine staying there for the rest of the day had he not felt something furry prodding at his nose. Making a face, Matthew swatted lightly at the source before he relaxed once again with a small sigh, squirming around a bit to get comfortable.

The fuzzy prod never came back and instead moved over to the larger male wrapped around him. Kumajirou clambered over his sleeping owner to crouch down before the sleeping Russian's face, tilting his head to the side to stare at him before he promptly pawed at the man's face. He wasn't as going to let up on this one and sure enough the male started to stir, his brows furrowing at the feeling of something pawing at him and soon enough his eyes parted open enough to see what the hell was messing with him.

Needless to say, Ivan was quite surprised to find himself staring at Kumajirou who seemed to be regarding him in an upside down sort of manner and a frown of displeasure slipped across his lips at once.

How the hell had he gotten out of the closet?

"Don't put me in a closet again." The bear demanded, prodding his paw to the Russian's nose with a blank stare before it got up and waddled to the edge of the bed where he promptly dropped down onto the floor to leave the bedroom, leaving Ivan to ponder how he'd gotten out of the closet. Glancing over to the door, he found it was wide open yet there was nothing that could've let him out… Well, he was a strange one so who knew what ways he could get out of there.

"Mmmnn…what's going on…?"

Hearing Matthew's sleep-coated voice, Ivan looked back over to the blonde who'd rolled over to rub at his eyes. "Nothing, Angel." He mused in reassurance, leaning down to press a brief kiss to his forehead before he got up, stretching out his back with a light pop of his spine. Relaxing, he rubbed the back of his neck some before he let his gaze fall back onto Matthew, "You should take a shower, da?" He stated, smiling as he watched Matthew ease himself up off the bed.

"O-oh…y-yes, I should." He agreed, looking himself over before he headed off for the bathroom, letting out a sharp yelp of surprise as he felt a hand connect lightly with his ass, causing him to bristle in surprise while Ivan merely chuckled in amusement. Shooting his lover a small pout, Matthew let it go in favor of going to take a shower.

Ivan meanwhile had settled for going to find something to eat. Pulling on his jeans and his shirt, he plucked up the scarf and wound it around his neck. Even if he didn't want to wear his coat at the moment he refused to go anywhere without the scarf Matthew had made him. Opening the door, he slipped outside, inhaling a breath of air before he made his way off to the dining area of the base. Grabbing some soup and bread to take back to the apartment with him, Ivan placed them in a cardboard carrying case that they'd given him before making his way off across the base back towards their apartment.

Well, he didn't get too terribly far anyways.

His thoughts were interrupted at once as a familiar white figure came bounding across the ground and all but plowed into him. Grunting at the impact, Ivan dug his boots into the ground, pushing back against the force enough to cause dirt to turn up against the soles of his boots as the two pushed back against each other. "Alfred! Knock it off, you idiot!" He snapped, setting down the box so he didn't have to spill the contents while he tried to keep the wolf from doing something stupid. Wrapping his arms around the scruff of the large canine's neck, Ivan gritted his teeth, flipping over the male's back to slam him promptly into the ground. The two tussled together for a few more moments before Ivan finally managed to pin down Alfred's muzzle to the ground while keep his weight pinned down onto his neck.

Eventually Alfred stopped squirming around and relaxed causing Ivan to gradually let him go when he was sure he wasn't going to try to pounce again. Once he'd been released, the blonde swiftly shifted back into his human form and, despite his lack of clothes, glowered at Ivan with a snarl still present on his face. "You fucked my brother again, you bastard!" He exclaimed, wrinkling his nose as he sniffed at Ivan again, a low growl rippling from his throat, "God, I can smell it all over you…" His last statement was more of a whine of distress and he covered his nose at once.

Rolling his eyes at his dramatic reaction, Ivan picked up the box he'd abandoned before frowning, "If all you vanted to do vas yell at me dhen I'm going to go." He stated, going to take a few steps before Alfred suddenly spoke up again.

"Oh, wait! There was something I wanted to tell you!"

Pausing, Ivan stopped in his tracks to look over his shoulder at his lover's brother.

"Arthur's awake now and he's gonna tell us what the hell Ludwig's been up to. So go get Mattie and get your asses down to his room." He stated before heading back off the way he came. It still seemed like he hadn't quite noticed he was still naked…or he just didn't care. That wouldn't have surprised Ivan any.

He picked up his pace however and nearly ran smack into Matthew as he opened the door, blinking as the little blonde was standing in the doorframe.

"Ivan! What is it?"

A puzzled expression slid over his face for a moment but he soon caught on to what Matthew was talking about and he smiled some, "Oh, da, don't vorry about dhat too much, Matvie. I'm just vorried to find out vhat Arthur knows dhat ve don't. Come, ve vill eat later but Arthur vants to talk to us right now." He stated, watching as Matthew grabbed his shoes to put on before walking out the door after him, plucking up Kumajirou who'd been sniffing at the box of food in his hand.

As soon as they'd stepped through the doorway into Arthur's hospital room, they noted that everyone was already present, even Heracles who certainly refused to be left out of anymore planning and who was still staring at Alfred. Ivan figured that despite the blank look on his face he was plotting out the American's demise.

Perhaps he and the Greek needed to get together sometime to exchange ideas~.

He grunted a bit at the sudden elbow that connected with his ribs and he shot an apologetic smirk to Matthew who frowned at him before entering the room to take up a spot next to Arthur's bed, Ivan stepping in behind him to wrap his arms around his neck as he waited for the Brit to speak.

Taking a sip of the glass of water in his hand, Arthur finally spoke up, brushing a hand on the papers that were laying in his lap, "This is quite troublesome and I'm quite glad the lot of you showed this to me considering I only had a basic idea on what Ludwig would possibly want with the knowledge of dark magic but now I have a more rounded idea based on the contents of-."

"Arthur! Geez, you talk too much, get on with it!"

Shooting a scowl to Alfred who grinned sheepishly, he picked up the paper with the various shapes that Francis had drawn onto them. "You didn't get them all correct, Francis, but they were close enough to what they originally looked like to let me know what things they are related to. These are drawings meant for dark magic incantations and some of the ingredients you listed on the other papers are hard to come by but knowing the determination that Ludwig possess he'll stop at nothing to get them."

Antonio promptly broke in with a small frown, "Ah, _perdón_, Arthur, but…ah-…well, I have found out dhat he already has many of dhese ingredients of which you speak of. In fact, I dhink dhere's only _uno más _dhat he needs."

Arthur paled a bit at his words and shook his head to keep himself on track. "Well, that's one hell of a bloody problem we're going to have on our hands because what I believe Ludwig's planning is a very dark and powerful spell. The simplest way to put it is a transfusion of life sources between two similar vessels-."

"Arthur, in english please."

"Oh, shut your trap you imbecile. Perhaps if you read more you'd understand what I'm bloody well enough sayin-…"

"You two, _s'il vous plait_, save your bickering for anozhere time!"

The two shut up at once and Arthur soon continued after shooting Alfred a stern look, "As I was saying, it's pretty much a soul transfusion. My guess is he wants to use it on Feliciano but he'd need a soul of someone who's still living. And from what I've read about this stuff, the only souls that could match up is that of someone just like them in purity or darkness to transfuse with. And we all know how hard it is to find someone with a pure soul these days…" He mused, Alfred's gaze narrowing at once onto Ivan who glowered back for a moment, "Or, there is an alternative way to go about it. A soul from someone identical in birth date, blood, and looks- in other words, a twin."

It took a few moments for the group to let it sink in and Antonio was the first to catch on.  
>"Lovino!" He exclaimed, a horrified expression crossing his face at once.<p>

Arthur frowned and gave a nod, "Yes. And since he failed in getting Matthew into his clutches the second easiest option is to use Lovino…"

Antonio was already out the door and Francis and Alfred were forced to chase him down and drag him back before he could do anything stupid. Ivan meanwhile had grown silent, a frown spread over his face. Matthew swallowed softly and peered up to the male, "I can tell you don't want to go back but…we have to, we can't let him do that to Lovino…"

Damn. He hated it when his angel was right…

* * *

><p>Author's Note: :'D Another chapter as an apology for being so slow guys! Lol. OH TEH DRAMAZ! :O<p>

_Perdón_ = excuse me, _uno más _= one more, _s'il vous plait_ = please.


	13. Unwanted Visitors

"Antonio! I'm gonna have to kindly ask you to calm the fuck down!"

It had taken quite a good number of them to restrain the Spaniard from leaving the base than the original two that had gone after him to pull him back.

After all, it was difficult to keep a Cuélebre grounded when he was hell bent on getting airborne. Alfred had ran to fetch help while Francis had summoned up some of his powers to tangle up Antonio's wings to keep him from flying easily but it only last a few minutes but, luckily, Alfred had managed to find some others who were equipped enough to be able to keep the dragon grounded. Elizaveta had been quite an asset considering her powers as a Nymph granted her the ability to summon up the roots of the trees that ran underneath the ground to break through the surface to lash themselves down around his body to restrain the dragon to the ground, keeping his writhing and lashing about to a minimum and eventually he gave up his struggling completely as he exhausted his energy, going limp at once, his wings flattening against the ground as the roots and other magical bindings from Francis and Roderich finally won over and yanked them down sharply, causing a gust of wind and dust to puff up into the air.

Once the debris had settled, Alfred clambered down off the dragon's head where he'd been clinging onto to try to talk some sense into the Spaniard as he struggled around, his blonde locks quite ruffled and his glasses slightly askew.

He had to admit that was much more fun than riding one of those broncos but now wasn't the time to be saying such a thing he figured. He instead straightened out himself, fixing his glasses and his hair while he straightened out his jacket, looking up to see a woeful green eye staring at him, as if imploring him to let him go.

…Well, damn. If he knew that Arthur wouldn't have kicked his ass to hell and back if he let him go, he would've.

"Ah, damn, dude… Don't look at me like that! You know it's for your own good."

Francis had let his powers slip as well as Roderich considering Elizaveta certainly seemed like she had things under control now and Antonio's form was gradually shrinking down back into his human form. At once, Francis went to console Antonio but was beat to it by Roderich.

Well…if his could even be called 'consoling'…

A sharp smack sounded through the air as the man's hand connected with Antonio's cheek, surprising those standing around with a collective gasp.

"Roderich!" Francis snapped at once, glaring at the brunette who paid him no mind and scowled at Antonio, "Look at you!" He exclaimed, staring back at the shocked Antonio who held a hand against the spot where Roderich had smacked him. "Vhat do you zhink Lovino would say?"

"Wha-?"

"Ah, _nein_! I'm zhe vone who vill be talking here!"

"But you asked me a question!"  
>Another smack.<p>

"What was that for?"

"Zhat vas for talking vhen I specifically told you not to and because you do not answer a question vith anozher question! And I vill tell you vhat Lovino vould say about you so carelessly trying to rush to his aid. He vould say, "Antonio, you son of a bitch. Stop rushing to people's aid for vone goddamn second!" Or somezhing to that degree and I vould have to agree. Rushing into Ludvig's base vith guns blazing is not a good idea. So maybe you should vait for us to plan somezhing first. You know Lovino best and I can safely say zhat vhile I do not know him vell at all, he vill be fine, ja?"

Antonio was obviously wary about speaking for fear of getting hit again and instead settled on giving a small nod. He was right…the best thing he could do for Lovino was to wait and plan. If he went rushing in already then Lovino would be in more danger than if they planned carefully.

_Smack!_

"Goddamn chu, Roderich, stop _hitting _me!"

"Zhat vas for not ansering my question."

" Chu told me not to talk though!"

Francis intervened before they could do anything else and shooed Roderich away with a heavy sigh, "Now, now, children, hush. Arguing is getting us nowhere, _oui? _I think you got your point across, Roderich. Let's go back and figure out what to do." He stated, ushering them back towards the hospital. Elizaveta released the control of the roots and let them settle back into the earth while Antonio picked himself up off the ground to follow suit.

However, they didn't get far as two figures suddenly wandered into view. It wasn't like they got to shout anything in a warning because Ivan and the others quickly came tearing out of the hospital.

"Well, I didn't quite expect to get such a warm welcome."  
>"Mmm, me neither, Eduard."<p>

Alfred was livid at their presence and he was the first to go storming up to them, "What the hell? How'd you bastards even get past the perimeter?" He let out a yelp of surprise as he was knocked back with a wall of translucent red energy from Raivis whose eyes had shone a brief red in the process.

"Calm down, American," Eduard sneered, wrinkling his nose in distaste for a moment before his gaze slid over to Ivan with a smile, "Hello, Ivan. Long time no see, yesh?"

"Da…" The Russian murmured in agreement, "Now, vhy are you here?"

"Ahhh, so impatient you are. For you information, we were let in since we've brought a meshage for you. Ludwig knows you found out what he'sh doing and he deschided dhat it would be respectful to let you know to shtay out of hish way…if you know what's good for you."

Antonio let out a series of furious Spanish curses but was muffled by Francis who covered his mouth with a hand.

The blonde's eyes did narrow though at Ivan and he snarled, fangs appearing against his bottom lip in a sudden show of hostility and an equally displeased look had remained on Raivis' during the entire conversation.

"But, I, however, wouldn't mind trying to kill you now." With that, he appeared to vanish from the spot with speed alone and reappeared in front of Ivan, a clawed hand lashing out to take off his head until another hand intercepted him, catching his wrist in mid-air.

"Toris, you dare try to get in my way?"

The brunette had appeared in front of Ivan almost as quickly as Eduard had his own eyes the same blazing red color as Eduard's. A growl slid past his lips and he bared his fangs, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here Eduard and I have half a mind to kill you now."

"Pleashe, you couldn't hurt a fly, Toris." Eduard drawled, a sneer sliding over his lips.

"Try me."

The two stared each other down before Eduard slipped out of Toris' grasp to dart back to Raivis who was eyeing down Matthew whose water blue gaze had narrowed darkly at the sudden assault directed towards Ivan.

"Fine, we'll leave. But don't think you won't get what's coming to you, Ivan." Eduard drawled before turning his gaze to Toris with a frown, "And we will have something for you too as well, you traitor." The two then darted off into the growing shadows of the evening.

The moment they were gone, Alfred darted off to go chew out whoever had let them onto his base without first consulting him about it. Toris, meanwhile, had finally relaxed and was staring quietly at the spot where they'd vanished from while everyone started to disperse for the night.

Matthew lingered when he noted that Ivan was standing there as well and he frowned, opening his senses more to catch on to what he was thinking. It was…uncertainy? Or perhaps guilt… Reaching out a hand, he grabbed Ivan's hand, "Sunflower?"

Ivan snapped out of it at once, blinking briefly but Matthew knew what was bugging him and he silently encouraged Ivan to speak.

The support he picked up from Matthew helped quite a bit and he inhaled briefly before using his free hand to grab Toris' shoulder, startling the male in the process and Ivan grimaced. How many times had he done that to him before to make him flinch so bad?

"Toris, vhy didn't you go vith dem? I treated you so badly back dhen, vhy vould you vant to stay? Let alone help me?"

Toris gave him a puzzled look for a moment before he chuckled lightly, "Ah, yeah… I know, you were certainly a harsh ruler but…" He trailed off in thought for a moment before smiling a bit, "While you probably didn't deserve any help from me," Ivan winced a bit at that, "You do deserve it now though. You can thank Matthew for that; he's changed you for the better and I'm glad he found you. Even if Eduard, Raivis and I are tied together through our vampiric bond, it doesn't mean I can't think for myself."

Matthew couldn't help but beam as he listened to the conversation and the growing contentment he picked up off of Ivan made it all the better.

Smiling, Toris reached up to pat Ivan's head lightly, "Now, it's getting late. We should all get some rest now for the upcoming days." With that, he turned to walk off towards his own lodgings.

Tugging on Ivan's hand, Matthew led the Russian back to their apartment, "See, I- I told you, you have friends."

Ivan merely rolled his eyes in response with a small sigh though a small smile crossed his lips. Though, perhaps he wasn't as alone as he originally thought.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Roderich's kind of, like, the best therapist out there. : Just sayin'. Lol.

And I does approve of Toris/Russia friendshipz. :'D

And yes, Toris/Raivis/Eduard are vampires for those of you who didn't catch onto the 'vampiric' thing. x3


	14. Beginning of the End

He couldn't believe it…

He honestly couldn't believe what had just happened over the course of about a week. Not to mention what Antonio had done to him.

The little brunette felt tears springing into his eyes suddenly at the thought of the Spaniard who'd turned against him and he gulped in a shaky breath of air at once into his lungs, covering his face into his hands in the process. _"Get ahold of yourself, Lovino… He-…he doesn't even matter! He just used you to get into this place and he won't even help you get your brother back!" _

That set him straight somewhat and the Italian managed to recompose himself from the near sobbing mess he'd nearly broken down into. He couldn't be caught on the verge of tears in this place. For one, Ludwig wouldn't be pleased to see one of his subordinates crying for no reason (in his opinion anyways) and Lovino would be damned if he let Raivis and Eduard see him in such shambles that he felt like he was in.

Swallowing thickly, Lovino ran his fingers through his hair, resting his forehead down onto the cool wooden surface of his desk with a sigh.

"Well, well, _well_, my dear little Lovino~. Why are you lazing around here when you should be making yourself useful?"

Lovino's eyes fluttered open at the familiar voice of Raivis that sounded up from the doorway and peered up from the desk, glowering at once when he realized whom it was standing in the doorway.

"What do you-a want, pipsqueak? Go away. Your presence is not-a welcome here." He growled at once, eyes narrowing darkly at the small blonde.

"Ah, but why? I do rather like seeing you in such a stressed out state. Why are you so tense, may I ask?" Raivis grew quiet for a moment to let a look of thought cross his face that oozed sarcasm from every inch of his expression, "Hmmm, let me think now~... Coooullllddd it have anything to do with the fact your Spaniard is a double crossing traitor who used you to get info from _and_ to get into the castle? Not to mention how he just sort of bailed on you-."

Raivis didn't get a chance to finish his sentence for the next thing he new a sudden large, furry object had slammed into his chest, effectively knocking him back onto the floor and simultaneously knocking the air from his lungs. However, he managed to recover in time to avoid having sharp canines bite down onto his neck and instead struck out an arm, the teeth latching onto the limb instead before the little vampire promptly knocked him off, scrambling to his feet to scamper a few feet away.

Clutching the injured arm to himself, Raivis glowered angrily at the dark brown wolf that had picked itself up off the ground where he'd been tossed, letting a shred of fabric from the sleeve of Raivis' shirt fall out of his mouth with a sound similar to disgust before he shook himself off, the random curl that sprouted out from his head bobbing in the process.

Lovino had always hated the taste of vampire blood.

"You dirty mutt!" Raivis hissed angrily, eyes flashing a bright red in anger while Lovino's own forest green eyes locked onto Raivis. A feral snarl sounded from him as he advanced onto the vampire but was baffled briefly as the blonde seemed to relax suddenly and Lovino soon knew why as a forced latched onto him, pinning him roughly to the ground. Squirming around, he scratched and bit at the attacker but soon had his muzzle roughly pushed onto the floor and a sharp growl of frustration sounded from him but he eventually stopped struggling and actually took the time to see whom had tackled him.

Green gaze flicking upwards, he spotted Eduard who was sitting on his back, keeping him down and he seemed rather pissed. "Do not ever think about attacking Raivis. Ever. Again." He hissed lowly before getting off him, "And follow ush, Ludwig wants to shee you." He demanded.

Reluctantly, Lovino let himself slip back into his human form, grabbing the clothes that he'd carelessly discarded when he'd shifted forms and pulled them on before grudgingly trailing after the two, his gaze locked onto Raivis' back as they walked.

It was times like these that honestly made him kind of miss Ivan being in control over them to keep them in line.

Lovino soon realized they were headed towards the chamber where his brother was being kept and he slowed his pace some to look around. This place just seemed so gloomy yet there was Feliciano, kept beneath the glass and looking as peaceful as if he was simply taking a short _siesta _and would wake up any moment.

Of course, Lovino knew he damn well wouldn't.

Not yet anyways, they had to get that fucking Canadian first.

Or so he thought.

"Ah, _hallo_, you zhree." Ludwig's voice sounded from across the room, capturing Lovino's attention away from the glass casket and to the blonde man.

Whatever he was doing, Lovino wasn't too sure. He seemed to be messing with something... He couldn't tell what he was doing since his large bulk was blocking the general view of what he was doing but Lovino could make out the sight of various beakers seated in their holders nearby and he occasionally picked up a certain few to pour some of their contents into something which was most likely some sort of container to hold said liquid.

"Why did you want to-a see me?" He mused, a weary tone lacing his voice and he got no reply for a few moments until Ludwig seemed to be finished with whatever he was doing.

Raivis and Eduard stepped aside to let Ludwig get past them to Lovino who peered up at the male in confusion as he waited expectantly for an answer.

A soft sigh sounded from the German as he studied Lovino, "You look so much like him... You are, vithout a doubt, Feliciano's twin." He murmured and Lovino was seriously getting more and more perplexed by the second.

What was he talking about?

"Listen, you _bastardo_, I didn't want to-a come here to listen about how-a much I look like my _fratello_! If you have-a nothing better to do then I'm-a going to go back to the library!" He declared, glaring at the German irritably before he noted the sudden look in his eyes and his defiant expression slowly slid away from his face and a more worried one replaced it.

Why was he looking at him with such a cold expression suddenly?

"I am truly sorry about zhis, Lovino. But to bring Feliciano back I'm going to need Matthew...or you. Und since Matthew got avay, you're zhe only vone zhat vill help me achieve my goal."

Before Lovino could remotely get a question out, a sudden, sharp pang of pain shot through his arm and the brunette's eyes widened in surprise while a choked gasp sounded from him. His gaze slowly slid to the syringe that was sticking out of his arm now and he turned a confused expression onto Ludwig who merely watched blankly. Gradually, whatever he'd been injected with got to him and his legs started to feel weaker, slowly sinking to the ground as a high pitched ringing flooded his ears, muffling out sound as if he were wearing earmuffs.

The last thing he registered before he blacked out completely was the muffled chuckles of Raivis and Eduard.

"Sweet dreams, mutt."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: ;v; Finally got another chapter up. Lol.<p>

Oh, Lovino, always getting into trouble. BD Why can't you try to NOT get in trouble for once?


	15. Pushed to the Edge

It was...quiet, far too quiet than was probably normal...

The group that had gathered peered up at the large walls that surrounded Ludwig's base with furrowed brows, casting each other questioning glances as if trying to determine which one of them could explain the fact why no one had called out at them when Ivan and Matthew had gone up to it or why they weren't being shot at now that all of them had gathered.

"Well, what the fuck..."

Rolling his eyes at Alfred's rather brash exclamation as to what the hell was wrong with this whole situation, Arthur swatted the tall blonde upside the head, "While there is a more proper way to go about explaining your disapproval, I must agree." Turning his gaze towards the gate in front of them, Arthur frown, rubbing his still-aching shoulder softly in the process. When they'd discovered what Ludwig was planning to do, it'd take then a while to figure out what to do about it, long enough for Arthur's wounds to heal with a good dosing of medicine and healing magic before he was able to stand and function properly without falling over every time. And while Alfred was none too happy about the man coming along with them, he'd be damned if he didn't get to get a hit in on Gilbert for what he'd done.

Their initial plan had to let Matthew and Ivan enter the base and have Heracles sneak in alongside them in cat form when the gate opened. Once Ivan and Matthew were inside, then Heracles would sneak into the security post on the guard wall to open the gates to let the others in. Of course they would be faced with opposition once someone realized that whoever they were letting in wasn't supposed to be there but they were well prepared for an attack.

What they weren't prepared for was a ghost town of a base...er...ghost base.

"...Kiku, think you can open it?" Arthur ventured curiously. He may have been able to walk but his magical abilities weren't at their full power and if he used them too much he wouldn't be able to use them at all once they got inside when they would perhaps need it the most.

The Japanese man frowned softly, studying the door for a moment before he pulled out his katana with a small 'shink' of the metal scrapping against the sides of the scabbard. He muttered something softly under his breath before the blade took on a white glow about it and he lunged forward, slashing the weapon swiftly through the air a series of times before stepping back to the group. Nothing seemed to happen at first before similar, white, glowing lines appeared onto the metal gate before slabs of metal began to fall away onto the ground.

"There, I believe that did the trick." Kiku spoke, stepping over the pile of rubble casually while the others followed behind him, ready for an attack the moment they stepped through onto the other side.

There was no ambush waiting, in fact, there wasn't anyone waiting at all...

Alive, that is.

Matthew's eyes widened and he paled considerably at what he saw, his fingers feeling the air for Ivan who was starting feel an overwhelming sense of panic from Matthew and promptly handed over his hand for the male to squeeze as a support anchor.

Violet eyes trailing over the scene before them, Ivan grimaced some, feeling a bit queasy himself just from the fact that Matthew obviously did't take to bloodshed well at all and this was almost equal to what Ivan himself would've done in the past.

Almost.

The reason they weren't greeted with gunfire of any sort was because there was no one to shoot the guns. The soldiers they'd been surrounded by during their last visit lay strewn about the grounds, puddles of blood drenched the ground where the mutilated bodies had dropped or been thrown and there were even various body parts and organs scattered about.

Alfred had taken it upon himself to pick up a scrap of metal and prodded curiously at some squishy, fleshy object that was laying on the ground near him to determine what it was but Arthur promptly snatched away the metal with a scolding hissed under his breath in the process. Kiku had broken down into uttering some sort of prayer in Japanese from what Ivan could tell and the others just remained frozen in a stunned state.

Why had Ludwig killed all of his soldiers?

"Come on, ve have to find him. Quickly." Ivan encouraged to the group who snapped out of it as someone's voice finally broke the silence and the Russian was forced to cajole Matthew into following him and to stop looking around for a few moments before they were able to move.

Heading into the large headquarters of the German, the group moved along silently. their footsteps echoing eerily off the stone walls as they moved and their shadows being distorted by the odd arrangement of natural and artificial lighting caused Matthew to start occasionally and just from how their strong their bond was, he could feel the Canadian's pulse skittering through his own veins and he could've been easily fooled that his heart was still in his chest and not locked up somewhere.

Suddenly, laughter bounced off the walls, causing the party to freeze in their tracks, pressing their backs together in a circle of defense, weapons and/or magic poised at the ready.

"Now, there'sh really no need for that~." Cooed an all-too familiar voice.

A whistle of something slicing through the air sounded and Ivan whirled around at once, lifting up a hand in time to catch the arrow that had come whistling out of the darkness with his hand, glaring irritably as the forms of Eduard and Raivis appeared, the smaller blonde toting around an bow and a quiver full of arrows while Eduard himself was armed with a PPSh-41 cradled in the crook of his arm.

"You two!" Toris exclaimed, stepping out the circle to glower at the duo with angry red eyes, "If you idiots know what's good for you, you wil step out of the way and let us through!"

Eduard chuckled and tilted his head mockingly, "Oh, we know what's best for _us_, Toris, do you know what's best for you? Do you honestly think you're on the right side?"

"I do." The brunette declared, lunging forward with a yell, pulling out the Tokarev TT-33 at his waist as the two clashed into a fight. Gunshots echoed off the walls of the hallway and the group in the middle pressed themselves to the sides of the wall to avoid getting shot by the trio darting around to try to kill one another.

Kiku indicated for the others to go ahead, "Go, quickly! I will stay with Toris." Heracles obviously didn't not like the thought of leaving Kiku here without him but the Japanese man shot him a stern look which silenced him and he shot the male a worried look before nodded, "Very well, but be careful."

Kiku nodded and turned to go join the fight with Toris while the others quickly darted past the battle ensuing near them and around the corner.

Ivan, frankly, had no idea where they were going but Spain provided a general idea. The chamber where Ludwig had stored Feliciano.

The moment they rounded the second corner, however, a knife suddenly flew into the wall and buried itself there. Arthur's brows furrowed at once at the sight and he scowled.

Now where had he seen that knife before?

"Kesesesesese..."

Oh yeah, that's where...

"Gilbert." The Brit drawled, eyeing the albino bitterly.

Grinning, Gilbert pulled out another knife from the array of similar ones attached to the belt dangled casually around his waist to bring it to his lips, his tongue sliding out to teasingly lick the side of the blade, "Oh, hey, Eyebrows. Kesesese. Still as unawesome as ever I see~." He cooed. His laughter was cut off by a sudden pulse of energy that sent him flying into the wall on the opposite end of the hall, a hole forming as he crashed through it. Wincing at the pain of impact, the albino slowly clambered back to his feet with a snarl, "Nein, you're _definitely _more unawesome than the last time I saw you. Zhis whole encounter's unawesome to tell zhe truth." He grumbled, brushing dust from his clothes.

Elizaveta was the first to step forward this time but she looked rather heartbroken than anything else, "Gilbert! Why are you doing this? You were our _friend_!"

Gilbert' glare faltered some as he looked to Elizaveta before it wiped off his face completely with a sigh, "I know, I don't say zhis often but it _vas_ pretty unawesome of me... But, Ludvig is _mein bruder_ und ve know family has to stick togezher."

"But-."

"_Nein_, Elizaveta, zhat's just zhe vay it is."

With that, Gilbert broke into a run at the group, knives at the ready but he grunted as he was suddenly tackled into the ground. Blinking in surprise as he peered down to see Elizaveta latched onto him, eyes glowing an angry green.

"Elizaveta?"

"Sorry, Gilbert, but if this is the way things have to be then I must kill you."

A cocky sneer spread over his face and Gilbert chuckled, "How awesome." He stated simply before kicking Elizaveta off him.

Rolling to her feet, Elizaveta indicated for the others to go and they hurried off. Arthur lingered behind for a few moments, glowering at Gilbert before looking to Elizaveta, "Kick his ass for me." He stated simply before scampering after the others.

After a few more turns, they finally reached the large double doors of the chamber. Slowing to a walk, they paused for a few moments, Ivan glancing over to Matthew who released his hand reluctantly with a small nod.

"Ready?" Ivan questioned, glancing over his shoulder to the group who nodded, Alfred letting a cocky grin slide over his mouth as he slung his M1918 BAR over his shoulder, flashing Ivan a thumbs up. Nodding, Ivan kicked open the door with his boot, knocking the door entirely off its hinges, clattering loudly to the floor.

Ludwig didn't even react however and merely continued with what he was doing, drawing the last point of a six-pointed star inside and intricately designed circle with various writings around it before he got up, brushing chalk from his hands as he stood up with a sigh, "Vell, it seems you people don't know zhe meaning of 'knocking'..."

"Where's Lovino, you bastard!" Antonio demanded, bursting from the group to go at Ludwig but was promptly snagged by Francis and Heracles before he could do anything brash.

"Oh? Zhe little Italian? Right zhere." He stated, pointing nonchalantly to the unconscious brunette who was limp on the floor near the casket, his arms shackled over his head, the chain bolted into the ground.

Ignoring the sudden curses flying from Antonio's mouth, Ivan scolwed, "Ludvig, don't you tink vhat you're doing is unreasonable? You're going to harm innocent people because of some mad idea."

"And wasn't Feliciano an 'innocent' person, Ivan?" He shot back coldly, narrowing his eyes before he strode across the room to grab a sword that was strapped up to the wall along with a collection of others of different design, turning it over in his hand thoughtfully.

Ivan's words were cut off as a soft mumble sounded from Lovino, the brunette stirring some in his sleep before his eyes gradually opened, brows furrowing some as if he couldn't get a sense of where he was. Though it was obvious that when he went to move his arms and they didn't come down he panicked a little. Looking around, his gaze landed on the ground nearby and gradually slid to Antonio, freezing up at once for a moment.

The Spaniard squirmed some more in an attempt to get away. Finally Ivan figured it was time to move while Ludwig was away from Lovino and he indicated for them to go for it. Alfred gave a battle cry of sorts and sprang forward along with the rest of them but the moment their feet crossed the threshold, a sudden trigger spell activated and the group was yanked up from the floor and left suspended in the air with a confused yelp of surprise.

"Now, bringing veapons into my home? How rude." Ludwig purred, lifting a hand which promptly yanked the weapons from their owners and levitated them across the room to drop to the ground with a clatter.

Striding across the room, Ludwig sighed, glancing to Ivan and Matthew whom had been last to cross the threshold and had managed to avoid the trap and now stood in a stunned manner in the door way.

"Ivan-..."

"Shhh..." Ivan ushered quietly to Matthew who was glancing between their friends floating in the air and back to Ludwig repeatedly. He had a bad feeling about all of this...

"Antonio. I'm _so _glad you should up vhen you did or else you vould've missed all zhe fun." He purred, adjusting his hold on the sword in his hand.

"And what do you dhink you're going to do with dhat?" Antonio demanded, flailing in the air some as if that'd help him get down.

"Simple, really, kill him." Ludwig stated, lifting the weapon, point facing down at Lovino who balked at his words, a look of shock and horror crossing his face at once.

Francis chuckled nervously at the threat, "Ehehe...d-don't be stupid, Ludwig. Do you really zhink zhis'll work?"

"I don't _think_, I _know_."

Alfred's eyes widened and he looked to Arthur in a panicked manner, "Arthur, get us down from here! Now!"

Scowling, the Brit was already trying to and he cursed, "I'm _trying_, Alfred! But this is a complicated spell and it'll take time to break it!"

Time they didn't have for the next second, Ludwig had ignored the group bickering and panicking amongst themselves and promptly shoved the blade through Lovino's torso. the Italian's pupils shrank at once, "Gah...!" He uttered in a stunned sound of pain. At once, the room grew deathly quiet.

Ludwig twisted the sword sharply to the side and Lovino let out a sharp cry that dwindled away into a whimper, tears brimming into his eyes at the pain and he struggled weakly at the shackles on him, the action putting more stress on the wound and he promptly coughed up blood, any words he would've said choking on his breaths that were shortening as his body registered the fact he'd been stabbed through. Gradually, his breaths drew out before stopping all together, his body going limp as the glimmer of pain and fear in his eyes died out completely, blank green hues staring up at the ceiling.

Ludwig roughly ripped the blade free and peered over to Antonio who had tears streaming out of his eyes, "Und now you know vhat it's like to loose zhe vone you most care about." He turned his attention back to Lovino as a small, white wispy ball floated from his mouth to hover in the air, "Now, vhere vas I?" He stated, tossing the sword carelessly to the side with a clang before he went to the glass coffin, opening it up to pick up some more of the chalk and started drawing.

Ivan finally registered that Matthew had latched onto him when the sword had stabbed Lovino and his blue eyes were wide, "I-Ivan...he-...is-...we have to-..." Ivan pet the blonde's hair softly with a frown, "Dhere's nothing we _can_ do, Angel. If ve step into dhe room, ve'll get caught like dhe rest." he glanced up to Arthur whose look of concentration had increased tenfold and he pursed his lips together seriously.

They needed to get in there, soon.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: :'D Yay for the longest chapter EVUR. Lol. Ugh, I'm going to go put my fingers in the freezer now.<p> 


	16. When the Dirt Hits the Coffin

This had to be some terrible nightmare…

Ivan could have practically cut through the stillness that hung in the air with a knife if he'd had one at the moment. Instead, he lifted a hand to smooth back Matthew's hair lovingly, violet eyes glancing down to the small Canadian whom had latched onto his arm, fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket with his face buried against the side of his arm.

He was obviously not taking this well at all.

His gaze soon returned towards the scene that was taking place in the room. Ludwig seemed to have nearly finished drawing the second star-like design onto the surface of the floor around the glass coffin and Ivan had the sudden urge to leap into the room to stop him and he went so far as to take a step towards the door but Matthew promptly sensed it in his lover and tightened his hold on his arm, effectively keeping him where he stood.

Well, keeping him where he stood as long as he didn't actually use all of his strength to get into the room. Matthew damn well knew there was no way he would be able to hold Ivan back if he really wanted to get at someone.

A small growl rolled from Ivan's lips but he obeyed Matthew, for now. The blond did have the right idea of making him stay put considering the second he tried to get in the room he'd be stuck in the air like the rest of the group was. He settled back down, letting his gaze fall on Francis who was looking on worriedly, trying to comfort Antonio. The poor Spaniard was practically crying a river at this point and he obviously wasn't having much luck in getting him to calm down. Arthur was busy muttering something under his breath but Alfred…

Of course the American would be the idiot to try it.

Alfred was actually attempting to try to _swim _through the air to get to the guns that had been thrown across the room. Ivan had to applaud his determination and the obvious look in his eyes that meant he was going to put some lead in someone but he simply looked like an idiot flailing around in the air like he was.

Though he had succeeded in getting about five inches from the spot he'd previously been in.

The sound of boots scuffing across the floor drew his attention away from the group along with a desperate tug on his sleeve from Matthew. "Vhat?" He mused, glancing away to look to the blond whose gaze was locked onto Ludwig and he assumed his gaze hadn't left the blond the entire time he'd been working.

"Ivan, h-he's…I think he's going to-…I think he's finished…"

Ivan grimaced and a brisk curse of Russian left his lips and while Matthew didn't understand Russian at all, other than the greetings and what little he'd picked up from Ivan's compliments and such, he could tell that he'd cursed just from the tone of his voice but now wasn't the best time to scold him for it.

Gritting his teeth, he heaved a sigh as Ludwig stood up, brushing chalk from his hands before he began to utter something that was too quiet for him to hear. "Uh, I hate to be dhe one rushing everyone and all but...vould it be too much to ask you to hurry up, da?"

As if on cue, Arthur's eyes fluttered open as he uttered the last few syllables of the reversal spell he'd been trying to weave into the lingering spell that hung over the room and at once the floating group dropped from the air, crashing to the ground with a solid thud. Managing to untangle themselves from the pile they'd landed in, all eyes turned on Ludwig who was still calmly speaking under his breath as if nothing had happened.

Antonio was the first to react. His bloodshot, teary green eyes were ablaze with anger and a feral growl rippled past his lips, "Jou.." He hissed, taking a few steps towards him, "I will _kill _you for what jou've done!" He shouted, breaking into a run for the German and Ivan sprang into action as well. He pulled himself out of Matthew's hold, much to the Canadian's displeasure, and bolted into the room, tailing after Antonio, ready to take off Ludwig's head as well should Antonio fail to get the first attack on him as well.

Matthew went to help Francis out from under the American that had landed on top of him but nearly jumped in surprise as Arthur paused in pulling himself out of the pile as he sat up with a start, gaze quickly turning towards the two moving towards the German.

"No! Don't attack him ye-!"

He couldn't get his words out fast enough for Antonio lunged at Ludwig, having been ready to morph into his other form but the second he got within ten feet of the German, a sudden, bass-like thud reverberated through the room and the floor lit up in a series of intricate designs that were glowing a bright red as they spread quickly across the ground.

Antonio grunted as he was suctioned out of the air and slammed roughly, stomach-first onto the floor beneath him. Ivan too found his legs suddenly heavy and they were eventually anchored to the spot. Looking quickly over his shoulder, he saw that Arthur, Alfred and Francis were in a similar predicament and…Matthew. He felt the spot where his heart should've been sink into the pit of his stomach in dread and he caught a flash of blond and green as Ludwig darted past him and seemed to practically teleport himself next to Matthew, a dagger in hand.

A deep laugh sounded from the German and he casually stroked his hand over Matthew's hair in a fond manner, "I can't believe you honestly thought I vould settle for Lovino's soul? _Nein_, he vas only a…mild distraction and trap to get to zhe soul zhat I really vanted." Ludwig stated, twirling the weapon in his hand to press it against Matthew's throat, drawing a thin line of blood in the process, "His."

Matthew had been quite surprised to suddenly find himself unable to walk, or move his feet for that matter, and he was even more surprised to see Ludwig standing next to him.

With a knife against his throat.

What the hell was going on?

He promptly figured it out though as the blade was dragged across his skin, causing him to flinch at the mild pain and he went to try to hit Ludwig but the German was much faster than he was and soon found his arm twisted painfully behind his back to the point moving was practically impossible without risking his arm being snapped in half. At once, fear started to creep into his body.

Antonio was even more livid by now and he struggled against the invisible binds keeping him on the ground with a choked sob, "So jou killed him for no reason at all? _Hijo de puta_!" He shouted before giving up his struggle to try to catch his breath, small sobs sounding from him now and then.

Ivan was deathly quiet though and the Arthur had nearly forgotten he was even there. He was desperately trying to locate which one of the designs written across the floor was the original when his gaze landed on the Russian. The man seemed completely still and expressionless but his eyes said it all. The violet hues were locked onto Ludwig and the purple seemed to have intensified to the point they were practically glowing.

Oh…he was pissed.

And with good reason, the sensation of fear he was picking up from Matthew was something he never wanted his angel to feel. Not to mention the fact Ludwig had his bloody hands (both figuratively and literally) on him.

Ludwig pulled the dagger away with a dark grin, "But now all zhe pieces vill fall into place. I must zhank you, Ivan, since you turned into _such _a good person lately I vas able to finally get my hands on vhat I needed to get vhat I vanted." The German angled the blade in the air, pointed directly at Matthew's heart and the male's blue eyes widened in horror as the blade started coming down and Ivan's own eyes grew and he struggled against the spell keeping him rooted to the spot with an angry yell of the German's name before a white flash sprung into his eyes.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: ;v; Sorry for the wait guys, my muse decided to take a vacation and leave me behind. Lol. But it came back and I got something up!<p>

Now I go sleep. Enjoy~. x3


	17. Angels in Higher Places

Matthew cautiously opened an eye, the watery blue hue closing at once as he was nearly blinded by the sudden brighteness of the pristine white that surrounded him. It was near blinding and he had to say it reminded him a lot of a sheet of snow at high noon on a clear, sunny day.

Gradually, he let his eyes become adjusted to the intensity of the light and he spared a look around. He couldn't see anything other than the white. Something moved in the brightness further away from him however and he blinked, "Hey!" He took a few running steps towards it but slowed down as the thing vanished or seemed to blend back into the whitness around him though he did find a few bright white feathers rolling along the ground nearby and he leaned down briefly to pluck one up.

"Feathers...?" He murmured with a small, puzzled frown.

"Angel!"

Matthew promptly let out a choked noise of surprise as he was crushed into a fierce hug and struggled some until he could get air into his lungs properly, "Sunfl-...I mean, Ivan?" He responded, peering up at the obviously confused and rather worried looking Russian who'd loosened his grip on him some in favor of clinging to him lovingly. "What's going on?" He finally questioned, looking around for a moment.

Ivan seemed to grow thoughtful for a few moments himself before speaking again.

"Perhaps ve're dead, da?"

Matthew paled at once at the thought and swatted at the Russian in response, "D-don't say such a thing! I-...I'm sure we're just...we're just..." He stammered to which Ivan gave him a solemn look and Matthew at once felt tears well up into his eyes.

They really were dead, weren't they?

"Matty!"

Matthew was promptly yanked out of Ivan's hold on him and crushed into his older brother's hug with a choked gasp of surprise. "A-a-alfred?" He managed to get out, once he was released he managed to push his glasses back up his nose to get a better look at the older blond. And he then realized that Arthur, Antonio and Francis were appearing out of the bright surroundings as well.

"W-what are you guys doing here?"

"Uhh..." Alfred drawled, rubbing his head lightly with a slight tilt of his head, "I dunno. Maybe that Nazi bastard nuked us or something..."

"Dhen he vould be here too, _durlak._"

"Hey, hey! We maybe he dead but I'll still kick your ass back down to hell where you belong, damned commie!"

"...You're really pissing me off, da..."

"Would both of you kindly shut it?"

The bickering pair quieted themselves at Arthur suddenly shouted and looked to him with slightly miffed expressions at the fact that Arthur had interupted them but resorted to glowering at one another irritably nonetheless.

"What is it, Arthur?' Antonio ventured, eyeing the Brit curiously while Francis was busy trying to ponder over what the blond was doing searching about on the ground for.

"Perhaps he dropped a contact lens, _oui_?" Francis offered up helpingly though that was obviously not it, judging from the look Arthur promptly shot the incubus who flashed a sheepish grin in response.

Arthur let it slide and continued to search about on the floor, "We're not dead, you bloody fools. This is not heaven at all...and it's not an 'alien spaceship' either, Alfred, don't you dare even say it." He tacked on quickly as soon as the American had opened his mouth which he promptly closed with a small pout.

"It's another realm of sorts inside of our minds. People wonder how telepathy works, well, this is it. It just takes the right sort of magic to tap into it and I'm sure we're all standing where were previously were in the real world and you'll see once I figure out how the hell to get out of the spell that locked us in here." He muttered, continuing to scuttle about the white floor.

The group nodded in understanding before Francis promptly thought of something, "Ah, _mais oui_! Wasn't Ludwig about to kill our little canadian flower a seond ago?"

"So." Ivan muttered bluntly, none too happy with the thought obviously for he wrapped his arms around the small blond's neck at once to hug him against him.

"Zhen if we're all still alive...why are you two here?"

Ivan and Matthew blinked some at the realization and frowned. That was a very good question...

"And we'll find out why in a minute." Arthur cut in, his hand having stopped on a nearly invisible rune that was etched out into the floor and he pressed down, a small hexagon caving into the floor with a symbol as silver lines etched their way into the floor before the white around them suctioned out into black and color and shape began forming back into their vision as their minds were drawn back into their body.

"What-..."

"Zhe-..."

"Hel-"

"Lovino!"

The stunned words from the group were cut off as the Spaniard latched onto the brunette who was standing nearby at once, cuddling into his hair with a small sob of joy, "You're alive! I knew you couldn't be dead!"

"Let go of me, _bastardo_!"

"Veee...Lovi, be nice to Antonio. He missed you."

Antonio blinked some at the familiar voice and actually took time to examine over the brunette in his arms for a moment. It was Lovino all right, but instead of his normal clothes he wore a bright, simple white dress of sorts and he had even adopted a set of small white wings that sprouted from his back. "Wha-..." He began before looking to the identically dressed brother nearby.

"Feliciano?"

The petite brunette smiled cheerily in response and wiggled his fingers in greeting, "Vee, _bounjourno_, Antonio."

* * *

><p>c': Sorry it took me forever and a half guys but I've been crazy busy lately. Lol. I found some time to type you up a quick update though. D: A failish, fail update.<p>

But I'm getting surgery on the 21st so I'll have plenty of time to get back in the swing of things. ;D

durlak = dumbass (From what I've heard anyways. xD Correct me if I'm wrong.)


	18. Your Guardian Angel

"Feliciano...?"

The petite brunette merely flashed a happy smile once more, folding his arms behind his back as he waited patiently for the small group to recover from their shock at seeing the supposedly deceased Italian standing there in the flesh. Literally. Well, technically, he _had _been killed but it wasn't at all impossible to come back if you knew the right people and had some unfinished business to take care of.

And judging from the looks of everything, he certainly had a lot of business to take care of.

One person didn't look all that surprised to see him standing there however and while Antonio was busy practicaly molesting his older brother with affectionate kisses and touches, the Brit had gathered himself together to wander over to the small Italian while he left Alfred and Francis to stare in shock at the whole situation. Ivan had rushed over to Matthew in the meantime to check over his little angel to make sure he had escaped any sort of injury and, once he was satisfied, finally complied to merely hold him close while he looked on, nuzzling into the Canadian's soft hair quietly.

"Feliciano..."

"Arthur."

The two stared quietly at each other for a few moments before Arthur finally let a smile cross his lips, "I've never been so bloody glad to see anyone in my life." He promptly reached out his arms to snag the Italian into a hug. Blinking some, Feliciano was obviously a bit surprised by the action but he recovered quickly enough, beaming brightly and returned the gesture, "Veee, it is nice to see you too, Arthur~." He assured the male, the tiny wings sprouting from his shoulders fluttering happily before he pulled away with a small sound of rememberance, "Oh, si!"

He turned to scamper over to the stairs were a certain German lay slumped over, out cold on the stones where he'd fallen and Feliciano knelt down, drawing the blonde's head onto his lap, stroking back the strands of hair with a soft sigh, "Ludwig, what have you gotten yourself into..." He mused to no one in particular. Feliciano leaned down to press a soft kiss to his forehead before he noted that Ivan was glaring bitterly at the unconcious German and frowned some, waving a hand at him, "Oh, n-no, Ivan, please don't be upset with him! He didn't mean to cause anyone harm!"

"My ass!" Alfred promptly exclaimed, striding forwards with a growl, "He's caused nothing but trouble this entire time! First he builds a base, then he starts trying to kill people, then he actually succeeds in killing someone!"

"Oui, your own brozher at that!" Francis interjected in agreement, a frown, "I say he deserves no mercy from us!"

The look of sorrow that crossed the Italian's face rendered the two aggressors silent for a few moments and Feliciano nodded in agreement, "Si, he has done some very bad things and I am not happy with him for that. But...think about it in his position... He loves me, he really does. He's not really the most affectionate person ever but you saw how much it crushed him when I died and it hurt me to see how much it hurt him. So I told myself I'd watch over him until he got over it... But," Feliciano trailed off with a small frown, smoothing back some stray strands from the blonde's face, "He didn't get better... He got worse and while I wanted to tell him to just let it go I couldn't talk to him, it was against the deal I made to talk to the living..."

"A deal with whom, Feliciano?" Arthur ventured, a frown crossing his lips.

The Italian beamed happily, "Why, none other than God of course. Ve, he is very nice... But he told me not to interfere until I knew things were getting out of hand."

"Oh really, and when did you figure dhat out? When he decided to kill Lovino?"

The group had completely forgotten about Antonio who was still latched on to the other Italian and was now glowering accusingly at Feliciano, "If you could have done something then you should've done it dhen! Better yet, before anything like this _could_ have happened!"

A rather guilty look crossed Feliciano's face and he glanced downwards but before he could say anything, Lovino butt his way in. "Hey, hey! Don't you try to blame Feliciano for this, _bastardo!_ ...It was everyone's fault; you're fault for betraying me, that damned Russian's fault for starting the whole fucking war, my fault for believing the potato-eating bastard and Ludwig's fault for not keeping a better eye on my brother... But we can't do anything to change it now so you'll just have to learn to live with it."

The boss and henchman stared each other down for a few good minutes before Antonio finally snapped with a grin, "Ahhhh, _dios mio_, when did you become so reasonable, Lovino~? Come, let Boss reward you properly." He cooed, pulling the angel down onto his lap where he sat and promptly began to litter him with kisses.

Feliciano couldn't help but laugh some at their antics but soon took a more somber note as he looked back to the others. "But I can't change anything, _fratello_'s right there..." They couldn't reverse time and while Arhtur may have been able to do so, who knew how badly it could damage the timeline leading up to here; it could range from Ludwig never having turned against everyone to everyone ending up dead. No, it was better to keep things as they were.

Matthew finally spoke up from the Russian's arms, "U-uhm...excuse me...F-feliciano?"

The Italian blinked briefly and let out a small hum of question.

"Do-...do you think, possibly, that you and Lovino could...could stay? I'm sure Ludwig would l-like that better than you not being here, e-eh?" He pointed out.

Frowning, Feliciano soon smiled some at the thought and gave a soft nod, "I do like that idea-"

"Mnn...F-...Felici-..."

Hearing the German's groggy voice sounding from his lap, Feliciano looked to Ludwig and smiled happily, "Vee, _bonjourno_, Ludi~." He cooed happily, blinking some as a hand came up to rest against his cheek and the Italian flinched some at the sight of tears in the German man's eyes. Ludwig, crying? The thought alone was so strange to think of since no one ever saw Ludwig crying, not in public anyways, not without good reason.

"I've missed you so much, Feliciano... Vhy did you have to go?"

Feliciano sniffed softly, feeling tears springing up into his own eyes and chuckled breathlessly, "...Ah...s-sorry, Ludwig, but, I didn't have a choice." When you were killed you didn't get much of an option to stay or go, "But, it wasn't scary, I promise! There's lots of pasta and wine and there were a lot of kitties as well!"

The German obviously wasn't convinced any and instead pulled the Italian down to him in a tight hug, "Don't leave again, Feliciano..._bitte_..." He pleaded, nuzzling into the familiar locks of hair.

"..."

Feliciano stayed silent for a few moments before sighing, "Ve... For now, Ludwig, you need to sleep." He stated, pulling away from the German some only to press their lips together in a soft kiss, a flash of white errupting around the room once again.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: :D Next chapter, guys, rejoice! Or not... ;v; I'm all drugged up on vicodin from my surgery so I can barely function so there might be some typos or something in there that I missed so I apologize in advanced if you see something ridiculous. And I plan on finishing this story during the time I'm bed ridden so rejoice some more! xD Lol.<p>

And another cliff hanger, I so sorry! xD


	19. Return

A small breath slipped past Matthew's lips as he shifted; curling up further against the broad chest of the person he was sleeping on top of. After a few moments, his eyes slowly opened to blink groggily, turning his attention to the window nearby whose curtains were pulled open, letting in the bright morning sunlight.

"Mnn, Matvie…"

Blinking a bit at the sudden voice, the blond turned his attention to Ivan who was starting to wake up himself, lifting an arm off of his angel to rub a hand over his face to try to wake himself up more.

The Canadian didn't react as he normally would have and the Russian noticed this at once and he lifted his hand some from his face to peer curiously at the male who was staring thoughtfully once more out the window, "Angel?"

Matthew merely stared out the window for a few moments before he sat up to sit on the Russian's lap, tugging the sheets around him to keep the warmth near him.

They were back in their room on the base…

Had this all been just some crazy dream?

Ivan had propped himself up on his elbows, reading the various feelings coming through his lover and frowned some. So he was having the same thoughts he was. Maybe it had been just some dream they'd shared due to their connection. It would make sense considering they were still in their room and not off dealing with Ludwig. He inwardly groaned at the thought but was more concerned about the look on his angel's face and sat up to gingerly take his face into his hands, turning it to look at him as his violet eyes stared into the deep blue color he so loved.

Leaning forwards, he carefully pressed their lips together into a kiss, feeling the sudden surge of happiness only encouraged him to go further. Parting his lips to let his tongue slide out into the Canadian's mouth; licking up across the roof of his mouth a low chuckle sounding from him at the soft, muffled moan that sounded.

At once, he let his hand slide down along his back, fingers sliding up underneath the hem of his shirt to play along the soft flesh and trailed their way up to one of those pink nipples to play with for a moment before his other hand worked its way down into the Canadian's pants.

Matthew certainly was enjoying it but he was quick to realize something… The air in the room felt…off, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. Pulling away from the kiss he frowned some, squirming against the touches, "I-ivan, w-wait…" He was quick to let out a squeak of surprise as his lips instead moved to his throat and began to suck and nibble. "Ivan!" He hissed more urgently but let out a yelp as he was pushed over and the two ended up toppling off the side of the bed to the ground.

Matthew soon realized why he'd felt suddenly uneasy and cautious about their actions, as did Ivan.

A few feet away on the floor was Alfred, sprawled out in a heavy sleep, snoring softly to himself. Both of them froze at once, remaining deathly still as they waited for the American to wake up and commence to try to kill Ivan for touching his little brother in such an intimate manner but it never happened.

Ivan released Matthew from his hold and gave a lazy smile, "I'm glad dhat your brother is such a heavy sleeper, da?"

Matthew certainly didn't hesitate to nod his agreement there.

But it didn't explain why he was there…

Standing, Matthew walked over to his brother and shook him softly, "Alfred…"

Nothing.

"Alfred!" He declared, trying to shout but it wasn't doing much good since his version of 'shouting' wasn't exactly up to par.

"Here, let me try, da?"

Looking back to Ivan, Matthew nodded and stepped away to let the Russian venture closer and knelt down next to Alfred, whispering something into his ear and Matthew severely doubted whatever he was doing was going to work but he was surprised to find that the American's blue eyes shot open and he whirled around to throw a punch that Ivan quickly caught.

"You wouldn't dare you fuckin' commie!"

"Oh...maybe…but you'll never know, vill you?" Ivan purred simply before getting up to wander over to Matthew, nuzzling into him on purpose just to irk the blond further who was picking himself up off the ground, growling threateningly under his breath.

Their soon-to-be fight was interrupted by an angry bout of shouting down the hallway.

Blinking, the trio exchanged glances before darting out of the room to peer down the hall to see what was going on.

"Bloody Spaniard, I told you to go do that elsewhere!"

"Ah, Arthur, come now, don't be so jealous, si?"

"Honestly, don't you ever tire of molesting this damned brat?"

"Che palle! You have a lot of nerve calling me names you _lupo di mare_!"

"Now see here! I have half a mind to-…"

They trailed off upon noting the pairs of eyes watching them down the hall before they quickly recomposed themselves. Arthur lowered his rolled up newspaper which he'd been about to swat Lovino upside the head with and Antonio firmly pulled his feisty Italian securely back to his side to keep him from trying to attack Arthur when he guard was down, "Hola~!" He greeted simply with a wiggle of his fingers in greeting to which Lovino merely scoffed.

"Yes, I believe 'good morning' would be the proper term, considering it's almost afternoon and you all have missed breakfast." Arthur mused, twisting his newspaper in his hands while he purposefully glowered at Alfred who smiled sheepishly, knowing quite well how anal the Brit was about following the times for meals throughout the day.

Matthew and Ivan were merely staring at Lovino who glowered some, "What are you looking at?" He demanded with a frown.

Arthur was quick to catch on to their confused looks and smiled, "Ah, yes, well… I assure you that none of what you experienced was a dream. It was all too real. Feliciano merely cast a spell to put all of you asleep so we could take care of the situation reasonably without someone doing something stupid."

Ivan gave a thoughtful hum as he pondered the situation over quietly while Matthew spoke up, "Then…why is Lovino here? Isn't he…uhm…"

"Dead?" Arthur supplied with a nod, "Very much so. But…" He trailed off to snag the Italian away from Antonio who let out a displeased noise with the action but let it be. Arthur, meanwhile, turned Lovino to the side to reveal the small, feathery white wings that sprouted from his back, "It is a well-known fact that angels, can in fact, walk among us."

Antonio reached out to snag the brunette back to him and nuzzled into his hair happily, "Isn't it adorable~? Boss can hardly contain himself!" He gushed before diving into a sudden and passionate kiss with the Italian who turned ten shades redder than a tomato in surprise and his wings fluttered for a few moments as he tried to wriggle out of his grip but eventually gave in to it, even going as far as to return the kiss.

Staring disapprovingly at them, Arthur heaved a sigh, "I found them like this out in front of my door…"

"Awww…why don't you ever do that with me?" Alfred accused with a puppy dog like pout.

Arthur gave him a horrified look, "Because it's bloody undignified you twit!"

"That's not what you usually say…"

Arthur was about to say something in his defense but was saved by Ivan who interrupted.

"So…if Lovino's here… Vhere's Feliciano?"

Arthur recomposed himself, straightening out his jacket before he cleared his throat, "Yes, well, Lovino wouldn't have stayed if Feliciano hadn't, you all know that. He's been waiting for the lot of you to wake up anyways, come." He stated, turning to lead the group down the hall but made it a point to deliver a solid smack to Antonio's head as he passed to snap him out of his current…task and the Spaniard merely winced but complied and released his frazzled and flushed Italian to trail after the group, flashing a wolfish grin to the brunette who scowled at him with a small curse.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Finally got some inspiration thanks to Assassin's Creed: Revelations and various hetalia fics and crap I've been looking at! I plan to get this story done soon so I can start on another one. I'm thinking either Turkey x Greece or Prussia x Russia. BD I can't decide, I love Turkey so much but Prussia's just...well...awesome.<p>

Or maybe an Assassin's Creed fic. Idk if I would do Ezio or Altair... ;v; They're both just so amazing.

What say you guys?

Btw, people, if you haven't played AC: Revelations yet DO IT! :'D It is the best game EVER! I'm just sad Ezio's story is over with now...as far as I know anyways. :c Getting to watch him become a novice assassin to a master. Ugh. And the Altair parts were just so emotional and epic as well. xD UGH I'M GOING TO PLAY THAT GAME OVER AGAIN SOON!

Anyways, lupo di mare = sea dog. Lovino, why you gotta prod at England's pirating days, hm?


	20. Forgive but Never Forget

As they slipped off through the base, Matthew took into account that it appeared that everyone had made it out all right. Toris was a bit banged up when they'd run into him but he seemed fairly all right and as did the others. Though Matthew was considerably surprised though to see Elizaveta kissing on Gilbert in a little shadowed corner off on the side of a building they passed.

He turned his gaze to Ivan as he felt a hand on his shoulder and gave him a questioning look to which the Russian merely flashed a grin, "I believe dhe saying iz…kiss and make up…da?"

Matthew giggle softly in response and nodded, casting the two one last look before they were herded off to a courtyard in the base that was designed for the troops to go relax. There were flowers and trees, a track ran around the area to let them jog if they wanted to and even picnic tables set up to eat lunch at if they wished. It was a nice, calming place and it was no surprise that Heracles was napping underneath a shady tree nearby, head resting in Kiku's lap who was also taking a nap, propped up against the trunk of the tree.

But they weren't here to see them.

Matthew's gaze slid back to a picnic table nearby that was situated amongst a small surrounding of flowers; the two seated there being Feliciano and Ludwig.

The blond man had his face buried into Feliciano's stomach who was seated up on the table, arms wrapped around the German's head, stroking back his hair softly but he paused as he heard the group approaching and peered over to the group and gave a small smile. Ludwig seemed to realize something was up for he lifted his head some out of the Italian's stomach to peer over his arms to the group coming but didn't make any moves. Matthew wasn't sure what was going through his head at the moment. He was a hard person to read, almost as hard as Ivan could be, and he was certainly good at masking his emotions right now for the Canadian wasn't picking up anything in that blank stare he was giving them.

The German's attention turned back to Feliciano as he stirred in his hold and Ludwig's arms reflexively tightened around him as if he was afraid to let him go and, honestly, he was. He gave the Italian an almost pleading look and Feliciano muttered something under his breath but whatever it was it seemed to have convinced Ludwig to relax for his arms gradually retracted from around him and the petite brunette slid off the table to the grass, straightening out his white dress before walking over to the group, looking them over for a moment before he sighed, "Well, everything is back to normal, si?"

Ivan seemed to be the one to ask what was on his mind.

"And Ludvig… Vhat are we doing vith him? Surely dhere's a reason vhy he's on our base after all."

"Ah, si…but first, I have a question for you all." He took a moment for them to get situated some before he spoke, "Could you forgive Ludwig?"

The question honestly shouldn't have been a surprise, Matthew knew that, but it was nonetheless. He blinked a bit and spared a brief glance to the other faces around him. Antonio, Lovino and Arthur didn't seem the least bit surprised so it was likely they'd been through this conversation already but Ivan and Alfred seemed more stunned than he was.

"Forgive him?" Alfred repeated, a frown crossing his face in thought.

Could they forgive him so easily? He had tried to kill them all and succeeded in Lovino's case. After a few moments, the blond glanced to Arthur who blinked before giving him a solemn look, tilting his head some in an indication before the American sighed and gave a nod, "I suppose I could..." He didn't doubt Arthur's judgment when it came to this stuff.

He did have more common sense between the two of them after all.

Ivan, however, seemed more reluctant. His violet eyes narrowed softly as he looked between the Italian and the German before finally letting his eyes trail back to Matvie, mind sifting through what he was thinking on the matter. Apparently his angel had picked up on the intrusion for his gaze flickered up to Ivan and he frowned softly.

That was answer enough.

"I honestly don't vant to forgive him; he tried to kill Matvie…"

Feliciano nodded his understanding.

"Let me talk to him."

Eyes turned uncertainly to the Russian. Talk to Ludwig? That surely would not be a good outcome. Feliciano himself seemed a bit uncertain but indicated for Ludwig to come over. The man seemed a bit unsure of it himself but complied and stood up, fixing his jacket and also straightening out his resolve in the process before he strode over to the group, obviously a bit uncertain about what to do or say. The prideful part of him didn't want to seem submissive to them but he didn't exactly have the room or the right to be bossing them around and speaking casually.

"Vhy should I not kill you vhere you stand now?"

He blinked a bit at the Russian's question; a bit puzzled at first but the cold look he was being given told him it was best to answer. Taking a small breath, he directed his gaze downwards for a moment in thought, "Vhy?" He repeated, folding his arms behind his back, "Nein…zhere is no reason vhy I shouldn't be killed." He answered simply and he tried to ignore the horrified look Feliciano flashed him at once, "I vas foolish for zhinking I could reverse somezhing zhat's supposed to remain permanent and I should be killed for it."

Ivan stayed silent and the two stared silently at each other for a good while and Matthew himself was even beginning to think that Ivan was going to kill him then and there and Feliciano even went as far as to grab onto Ludwig's arms as if to tell him to accept it without trying to redeem himself.

"Da…you should be killed." Ivan finally agreed, taking a few steps towards the German and Ludwig nodded curtly, peeling Feliciano off his arm and Lovino promptly stepped forward to take his confused and rather distressed looking brother out of range of anything that was about to happen.

Reaching out a hand, Ivan grabbed the German's neck, staring down at him coldly, "You tried to kill someone I love and dhat vill not settle vell vith me… However," He released Ludwig's throat much to the relief of the others, "You didn't do it for yourself necessarily; you did it for someone _you _love. I vouldn't have understood the feeling if I had not come across Matvie. And dhey forgave me…so I should do the same for others. For dhat, I vill let you live. But, you did kill someone and I believe Antonio and Romano should be dhe ones to determine to let you live or die." He stated simply, turning to walk back to Matvie who was gushing with pride for Ivan for not just flat out killing him where he stood and latched onto the male's middle in a hug of joy but his gaze turned to the two that had been mentioned.

A frown had worked its way across Antonio's face and he growled some, eyeing Ludwig bitterly, "I would certainly like for him to face some punishment…" He muttered, "But, I have Lovino back no matter what. Lovino…it's your call, _mi amor_."

Lovino glowered at Ludwig for a good while, turning his gaze to Feliciano for a moment before he let out a haughty scoff, folding his arms over his chest, "You just better treat my brother right, potato-bastard. As long as he's happy I won't have to kill you."

Feliciano smiled happily and latched onto Ludwig who was quite stunned with how things were turning out for him but a smile crossed his face and he returned the hug that had been given to him.

Arthur cleared his throat some and placed a hand on his hip, "Bloody hell, the lot of you are going to give me diabetes with how icky sweet you're being to each other. If only we got along like this on a regular basis."

Alfred flashed a cheesy grin and strode over to Arthur and chuckled happily, "Oh, come on, dude~. Don't be so stiff, you're just jealous everyone else is getting love and you're not. Here, let me fix it!" He declared, wrapping his arms around Arthur to pull him close to him before he pulled the side of his jacket up to shield them away from watching eyes as he caught the Brit into a heated kiss before releasing him with a lecherous grin but let out a yelp as he was smacked with the newspaper.

"I-…there was no such sentiment about this situation!" Arthur protested, face flushed a bright red as he struggled to recompose himself. Alfred merely snickered as he smoothed his hair back down, "What? At least I helped hide you away so I didn't offend your 'delicate sensibilities'~."

"You-!"

"Mon dieu, you two, honestly!"

Arthur stopped from strangling Alfred as Francis waltzed into view, wrapping an arm around Ludwig who tensed, obviously not expecting the casual and friendly gesture, "Isn't zhere somezhing more important we have to worry about right now, non?"

Confused looks were turned to the Frenchman and he threw his arms up in exasperation before he indicated to Ivan, "Him!"

The confused looks didn't change until Alfred snapped to attention. "Oh! Oh yeah!" He looked to Ivan promptly, "Dude! We gotta give you your heart back, right?"

His heart…

Ivan had almost forgotten completely about that!

* * *

><p>Author's Note: ANOTHER UPDATE! xD Lol. Consider it an apology update since I've been slacking on getting chapters up. *kisskiss*<p> 


	21. The Missing Piece

Nothing sounded but the steady click of boots echoing around the hall as the group filed down the heavily guarded corridor.

Surprisingly, they'd even allowed Ludwig to accompany them. Though, with how many men armed with guns and security cameras and even spells set up by Arthur to kill or trap any unauthorized visitors it was practically assured the German wasn't going to try anything funny and they also trusted Feliciano's presence to keep the German in line.

But, as weak as his will to fight seemed, Matthew doubted he would've tried anything at all. He had Feliciano back, after all, that was the only thing he'd wanted out of all of this.

"Here we are."

Matthew was drawn from his scrutinizing of the German walking in front of them at Arthur's voice and peered up at the door before them. It wasn't too large; in fact, it looked like a normal doorway albeit the door was made of metal with no handle on the outside. Of course, there was no doubt in the Canadian's mind that it was riddled with spells to make sure whatever was inside stayed inside.

The Brit stepped forward to the door, lifting a hand to place his palm against the surface of it. A sudden layer of translucent, gold energy flashed across the surface of the metal and Arthur retracted his hand, leaving a imprint of it on the panel. At once, small lines of gold traced their way across the metal from the hand print to the edges of the door and gradually the door itself disappeared from the entrance.

Stepping to the side, Arthur swept his arm towards the opening, "There you are."

Staring at the open doorway in silence for a few moment, Ivan remained still but it was impossible to tell what was going through his hand from the utterly blank look on his face.

For Matthew, it wasn't difficult at all.

Reaching out his hand, the Canadian took the larger man's hand into his own, feeling him start slightly at the touch and he flashed Russian a reassuring smile. He was scared about taking it back, Matthew was picking up on that easily and he had a feeling he knew why he was so scared about it.

Ivan flashed a small smile of his own before stepping into the room, pulling the Canadian in after him. Striding further into the room, he stopped as he came across a small stand on which was seated a small chest was seated. The Russian reached his hands out to pick the small chest up off the stand, holding it quietly for a moment before he finally spoke, "Angel?"

"Hm?" Matthew hummed softly in response, looking up to the Russian who had let a look of worry slide over his face.

"Do you dhink it's a good idea?"

"What's a good idea?"

"Taking it back…"

Matthew's brows furrowed softly in thought and he turned his attention to the small chest, "I don't know… Do you think it's a good idea?"

Ivan's fingers drummed lightly against the side of the box softly, "If I do…it'll just be easier to kill me…"

"And it's always been just as easy for something to kill me. It won't make a difference."

Nodding, Ivan turned to head back out of the room, the door behind them reappearing once the left.

"Told you you'd get it back, dude." Alfred declared with a gloating sort of grin on his face to which Ivan merely glowered.

A thought briefly crossed Matthew's mind and he frowned, "So…uhm…h-how do we put it…you know…back?"

…That was a very good question.

Arthur frowned softly, "Well, I suppose it would be possible to do it magically but…ehe…magic isn't meant for putting organs back into people. Healing wounds yes, surgery, no."

"Yeah, we didn't exactly plan to give it back to you until…recent events turned up." Alfred agreed with a laugh of amusement that was quickly silenced by Lovino who delivered a prompt kick to the back of his knee, making him stagger forwards with a yelp.

"So, w-we just have to…keep it in the box?" Matthew declared. How was that supposed to keep it safe?

"Ve…"

Eyes turned onto the familiar sound to find Feliciano looking thoughtfully at the chest while holding onto Ludwig's arm.

"Feliciano?" Arthur mused curiously.

"Oh! Ah, I was just thinking that Lovino and I could do it. Our magic is different than yours is after all."

"You can?" Ivan repeated, arching a brow doubtfully before Lovino stepped in with a scoff, "Don't you use that doubtful tone with my brother! He may not be the shiniest tomato in the bunch but he damn well knows what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff!"

Ivan still didn't trust it all that much but Matthew seemed to want to try it, "It's really the only choice we have. W-we can't carry it around all the time. We might lose it…or something else could happen to it. Besides, I trust Feliciano."

After a few moments of staring thoughtfully at Feliciano, Ivan finally nodded, "Da, all right…"

Feliciano beamed and released Ludwig to walk over and accepted the chest from Ivan, peering over his shoulder to Lovino, "Ve, come on, _fratello_, I want to go eat some pasta after this. It's been so long since I've had it."

"Tch, of course food would be on your mind, _idiota_."

The brunette complied however and walked over to join his brother, grabbing Ivan's arm to pull him in front of the two of them, "Take off your shirt." He commanded simply before he and Feliciano began to discuss something between them.

Ivan gave Matthew a puzzled and curious look but complied and pulled off his jacket and shirt underneath, handing them over to Matthew to hold. By the time he'd done that it seemed the two Italians were done discussing whatever they'd been talking about and turned their attention to the Russian.

"Ve, hold still no matter what." Feliciano commented before he opened the chest, the two twins peering in at the beating heart inside, "You might feel a little bit funny for a while. Lovino…" He stated, holding out his hand towards his brother who accepted it, intertwining their fingers together while Feliciano set the chest onto the ground in front of them. Moving their free hands to hover over the open chest and, after a moment, Feliciano let his eyes close and began to utter incoherent Latin under his breath, a soft white glow appearing at their connected hands, twisting its way down their arms, to their bodies, and finally down to their hands.

Matthew watched quietly in interest though it seemed Ivan was starting to feel a bit wary about all of this. Understandable considering he didn't exactly trust everyone just yet, let alone with his heart.

Lovino joined in with his brother after a moment, the soft glow suddenly emitting from within the chest and a round, white shape floated up out of it to hover in the air. Even if it was covered in a shimmery cloak of magic it wasn't hard to guess that it was Ivan's heart being suspended in the air. Now Matthew understood why they'd told him to hold still, one wrong move and the heart went splatting back to the ground. He couldn't help but cringe at that thought.

The heart floated through the air towards Ivan who eyed it as it approached, reflexively taking a step back but steeled his nerves as he sensed the sudden shock from Matthew as he saw the Russian move and remained still once more.

The glowing shape paused in front of his chest before Feliciano dropped out, letting his twin continue to utter the phrases while he himself opened his eyes to steadily guide the heart closer to his body, the shape passing into his body like a spirit passing through a wall and Ivan cringed at once at the sudden swimming sensation that coursed through his body, making him feel rather dizzy and nauseous all at once. Managing to stay upright, he grit his teeth sharply as a sharp aching began to spread through his body but the sensation finally ended as the words from the Italian stopped, along with the glowing magic.

Ivan didn't move for a while and Matthew started to get a bit worried, "I-Ivan? How…how are you feeling?" He didn't respond still and Matthew finally took a step forward, grabbing his arm to see if he was okay but instead let out a surprised yelp as the large man suddenly sagged down into his hold, nearly taking him out completely in the process and he struggled to keep them both upright, "A-Alfred!" He managed to choke out, heaving a breath of relief as his brother came over to help him hold the male up while Francis balked in horror, "What did you do to him?"

Feliciano sighed a bit, studying the limp body being supported by Alfred and Matthew, "I had a feeling this would happen…"

"W-w-what h-happened?" Matthew demanded, staring worriedly at the Russian, trying to shake him awake.

"Oh, he's perfectly fine. It's just that he, well, I'm guessing since his heart was removed from his body, the process of putting it back was what threw his body into a stalled state and made him black out. He should wake up in a few hours or sooner depending on how quickly he adjusts to it."

Matthew nodded, relieved that that was the only thing that was wrong with him. "Can you help me take him back to the room?" Matthew asked his brother who nodded, "Catch ya guys later." Alfred stated before throwing one of the Russian's arms over his shoulder to help his little brother practically drag the limp man back to their room, cursing as he deposited him onto the bed with a heavy sigh, "Christ, that bastard's heavy…"

Giving a soft chuckle at his words, Matthew nodded his agreement before thanking his brother briefly before he left to go track down Arthur to pick up where he'd left him off at no doubt.

Climbing up onto the bed, Matthew folded his legs under himself to watch the sleeping Russian, reaching out a hand to smooth back his platinum blond locks of hair with a small smile before he nestled down to rest on the bed next to him.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: xD I feel like I just pulled a Pirates of the Caribbean just now.<p>

Heart? In a chest? RUSSIA MUST BE DAVY JONES! D:  
>But I couldn't just put it in a shoe box or anything. xD How stupid would that be? Lol<p>

xD I also feel like I just pulled some RomaHeta stuff just now. Buahahaha.

c: The story's about over guys! I think one more chapter to tie it up should do it!


	22. Home is With You

He had one hell of a headache.

Brows furrowed in mild irritation at the dull throbbing that lingered behind his temples, the Russian uttered a coarse curse, running a hand over his face with a heavy sigh. Relaxing once more, his violet eyes focused on the ceiling, listening and focusing on the steady thump that echoed in his chest once more. It certainly was an odd sensation to be feeling after having it cut out and having nothing there.

Letting his gaze slide over to the little Canadian curled up next to him and smiled softly, rolling over onto his side to stroke back the soft blond hair. He always looked so innocent and that only seemed to heighten when he was asleep.

Ivan couldn't help but have less than decent thoughts about it.

Smiling softly, he let his fingers trail down along his neck, feeling the soft thump of his own pulse beneath the soft skin. Leaning down, Ivan let his lips press down against the warm throat with a delighted hum, littering the skin with kisses. A soft noise sounded from the little angel and he blinked, pausing briefly only to realize the male had stirred slightly in his sleep.

Chuckling, Ivan let his lips trail down to his collar bone, flicking his tongue out softly against the skin while his hands busied themselves with his shirt, carefully pulling it off the male so he could kiss and lick his way down his chest, He gradually started to become aware of the fact that Matthew was picking up on the touches, judging from the sudden rush of heat that coursed through him that certainly wasn't his own arousal.

"I-…van…"

Blinking at his name, the Russian paused in mid-lick across his skin to give a questioning hum, peering up at the Canadian who had come to, flashing an innocent grin.

Or partially innocent anyways.

"Oh, I see you're avake now, da?"

"W-what are you…d-doing?"

"Vhat does it look like?" He purred teasingly in response.

Moving back up his body, Ivan pulled off his own shirt before leaning back down to catch Matthew's lips with his own, silencing the small squeak that sounded with his tongue. Immediately he started to feel the male caving in to the pleasure and let out a pleased sounded as Matthew's tongue slid up to push against his own.

His hands trailed down the male's sides to swiftly undo the button on his pants, pulling them off quickly before he undid the button on his own pants before his attention quickly turned to Matthew's hardening erection, wrapping a large hand around it to softly begin to stroke, smiling at the pleasured moan that sounded from him.

After a few moments of watching the blond squirm into his hand, he figured he'd give him what he really wanted. Pushing down his own pants some, he pulled his own erection free, letting the head brush up teasingly against Matthew's entrance which made him gasp in anticipation.

Without much warning at all, Ivan thrust into him, feeling a bit bad about the look of discomfort that cross across his lover's face and leaned down to kiss his forehead softly, "_Prastee meenya_, Angel…"

"It's-…it's okay…" He breathed out before reaching his arms up to wrap them around the Russian's neck, "J-just move please." He was going to go crazy if he didn't get that wonderful sense of relief and pleasure that he always got whenever the two of them had sex. And Ivan certainly didn't hesitate to comply as he began to promptly thrust sharply into him, making the Canadian yelp out as he felt him push up into his prostate. "M-m-maple!" He gasped out, panting heavily as he held onto the Russian, startled suddenly as he felt the man's hands slide onto his thighs, pushing them up to let him get a better angle in on his thrusts.

He was becoming gradually aware of something and pushed on Ivan some to get him to slow down for a moment, "I-Ivan…I…feel-… Th-there's something…w-weird…"

Ivan was briefly confused by what he meant but he too soon was picking up on it. It was an odd sensation to say the least; like a double thump in his chest but that was impossible considering he only had one heart. "Ah…da…I see vhat you mean now." He agreed, pausing to feel out the rhythm thoughtfully for a moment before he smiled, "But it is nice, nyet?" He ventured, leaning down to kiss on Matthew's lips softly for a moment.

Matthew himself was starting to catch on to what was causing it. Their bondage no doubt; Ivan hadn't had his heart then so he hadn't been able to feel it before but now that he had it back it was present.

Smiling, Matthew nodded his agreement, "Y-yes…it's very nice." It was strange to feel but it was still soothing to think that their hearts were also connected in such a manner. The little moment was cut short as Ivan picked up where he left off, teeth biting down onto Matthew's neck with a soft growl, thrusting back up into him.

Matthew was extremely close; he could tell that just by the tight coiling in his stomach and the fact pre-cum was dripping down his length at a steady rate. "I-van~…" He breathed out in a warning, gasping for air before he finally came, clinging to the Russian with a cry of his name, the white liquid splattering itself against their stomachs and a soft whimper followed as he felt Ivan give a few more sporadic thrusts into him before he pushed in roughly which was followed by a sudden flooding of warmth into him.

The two remained still, Ivan balanced over Matthew as he panted to catch his breath, staring down contentedly at his little angel who was flushed from exertion and the afterglow of sex and grinned deviously, "Mmm, dhat was nice…" He purred, leaning down to press a few soft kisses up against his neck while Matthew hummed his agreement in a dazed, satiated manner.

That had been better than just 'nice'.

Eventually, the forced themselves to get up and go clean themselves up before someone came to fetch them and found them in bed naked together.

God forbid it was his brother of all people to find them like that too.

Heading back outside, it didn't take long for them to locate their group of newly reunited friends and smiles were promptly flashed to the pair along with various questions to Ivan about how he was doing getting adapted to having his heart back and the like. All the attention was, honestly, rather overwhelming to the Russian but Matthew kept him from freaking out about it too much.

"So, you finally got your heart back, huh? Kesesesese."

A scowl promptly crossed Ivan's face at the familiar voice of the one and only Gilbert and he glowered at him silently for a moment before a smile crossed his lips, "Mmm, da." He agreed before he, quite suddenly, threw a solid punch at the albino, knocking him flat onto the ground with a sinister look on his face, "And dhat vas for suggesting the butter knife~."

Matthew let out a horrified gasp along with the others but Arthur looked quite smug about it himself. Understandable since Gilbert had used his knives on him and he had yet to decide what sort of temporary curse he was going to put on the bastard just yet and, surprisingly, Alfred seemed quite pleased with it as well.

Giving that loud laugh of his, the American threw an arm around the man's shoulders and pulled him into a side-hug of sorts with a bright grin, "Oh, dude, that just totally made my day. You're not so bad, y'know that?"

"A-Alfred! Don't encourage him!"

"Ahahaha!"

Getting over his dazed state, Gilbert had managed to pick himself up with the help of Elizaveta and Austria, wiping some blood off his lip with a flick of his tongue before he chuckled, "All right, I had zhat one coming… But vhy don't you hit Vest as vell vhy you're at it?"

"Because someone already did." Arthur explained, indicating to Lovino who was seated on Antonio's lap, being clung to as usual. The Italian flashed a glare to the German who was seated next to his brother with a scowl, "Si, and I still have about fifty more punches to give that _bastardo_ before I'm finished with him!"

He merely heaved a sigh and shook his head to which Feliciano patted his head softly, "Ve, it's okay, Ludwig, _fratello_ can't hold a grudge forever."

Oh, it wasn't that he was bothered by; it was all the hitting he was going to be getting. Not that it hurt, of course, the scrawny little Italian's punches honestly didn't even phase him but it was just the annoyance of it all.  
>"I vill deal vith it…" He mused simply before pressing a soft kiss to Feliciano's forehead, causing the Italian to gush to himself with a happy, "Ve~."<p>

"Ivan!"

Blinking at the voice, the Russian turned around to see Toris and Katsyusha scampering over to him and was quite startled to be so suddenly be latched onto by the two of them before he was released, his sister at once rushing to Matthew who greeted her with a smile and was about to say something but instead let out a choked noise as he was brought into a crushing hug against her busty chest, struggling some for a moment, "K-kat-…can't-…b-breathe…"

Katsyusha let out a startled gasp and at once released the frazzled looking boy, "Oh! I'm sorry! Ah...here!" She stated hurriedly, helping to fix his ruffled hair and skewed glasses.

Toris merely chuckled at the sigh before flashing grin, "Oh, yeah, we didn't come to check on you earlier so I figured I'd do it now. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Ivan stated with a small smile though briefly noted something and glanced around for a moment.

Seeing his wandering gaze, Toris blinked before looking around as well, "What are you looking for?"

"Raivis and Eduard…are dhey…" Ivan trailed off upon seeing the solemn look on Toris' face before the brunette sighed, "No. They wouldn't come with us like Gilbert agreed to do once he found out that Ludwig had given up… It would've been a safe idea to kill them, I know, who knows if they could try to cause trouble again…but…"

Ivan promptly shook his head with a small smile, "Nyet…let dhem live. I've had quite enough death for a while…"

Toris blinked at his words before flashing a teasing smile, "You've certainly changed quite a lot, Ivan."

The blond blinked in a puzzled manner before frowning thoughtfully, "I have?"

"Yes," Matthew agreed, having popped in on the conversation just then, "But in a good way."

A warm smile slid over his face and Ivan wrapped up the blond into a hug, nuzzling into his hair with a delighted hum before he opened his eyes to peer around at the group. Everything was back to normal it seemed. Lovino was cursing at Spain for trying to molest him in public, Feliciano was bugging Ludwig about making pasta and Kiku was calmly watching Alfred and Arthur argue about some trivial thing which they would no doubt kiss and make up about in the next two seconds… Everyone was doing their own little thing again and no one was crying or sad or angry anymore.

Feeling the rush of joy, Matthew peered curiously up to Ivan. Seeing the look, the Russian chuckled a bit before looking back around, "Oh, I was just dhinking about how happy everyone is…"

Matthew giggled softly before nuzzling into the male's jacket, "B-because they have something to be happy about now."

"…You make me happy, Angel."

"I love you too, Sunflower."

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

Prastee meenya = I'm sorry

THERE I GIVE YOU ALL SMUT! FFFFFFFF!  
>Lol. c: I realized I really didn't do any of it in this story. xD That tends to happen if I start liking a plot more than the smut so I figured I'd remedy that some for all you PERVS! xD Hehehehe. Ilu gaiz, fo real.<p>

Anyways, that's the last chapter of this story!  
>*waves victory flag*<p>

Now onto my next story. C: I have an idea for Turkey x Greece that I really like but it'll be a short fic since it's just a random little thing in history I read about. Thanks so much for reading and commenting guys and special thanks to sweet-and-simple for letting me write a sequel! I had mucho fun! xD


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